Trump taped by lawyer

Washington, July 21: US President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen secretly recorded a conversation between the two men prior to the 2016 election about paying a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with the leader, the media reported. The FBI seized the secret recording made by Cohen during a raid on his offices earlier this year, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The report said that on the recording, Cohen and Trump discussed paying Karen McDougal, who says she had a year-long affair with Trump starting in 2006, shortly after he married Melania Trump. The conversation took place two months ahead of the 2016 election. The Justice Department was investigating Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Trump ahead of the 2016 election. His lawyer Lanny J. Davis said in a statement that he was “sensitive” to the ongoing investigation but added: “Suffice it to say that when the recording is heard, it will not hurt Cohen.

The Washington Post also reported that the FBI seized a tape of Cohen’s that discussed payments involving McDougal, but it had some conflicting details. It said that Trump and Cohen were discussing a payment for McDougal’s story about her alleged affair. Trump and Cohen discussed buying McDougal’s story from AMI during the recorded conversation, according to the Post. The newspaper reported that it was unclear why the men did not buy the story but they were reportedly discussing the same amount that the publisher paid McDougal. (IANS)