Trump caught on tape discussing payment to Playboy model: Report

Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen secretly recorded a discussion they had about payments to a former Playboy model who claims to have had an affair with the US President, according to a report in The New York Times on Friday. What’s more, the tape is now in the FBI’s hands, if the bombshell revelation is anything to go by.

The recording was seized during a raid on Cohen’s office in April this year, the newspaper said, quoting lawyers and others familiar with the matter.Cohen, who no longer represents Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over payments made to women to hush up embarrassing news stories about Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Besides putting the spotlight on the tactics the US President and his associates used to keep facets of his life a secret, the report highlights the potential legal and political threat Cohen could pose to Trump. In a recent interview, Cohen apparently signalled a potential willingness to cooperate with prosecutors against the Republican president.

The President’s current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, reportedly confirmed the veracity of the recording, saying Trump had discussed the payments with Cohen, but no payment was made and he had not been party to any wrongdoing.

“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani told the newspaper, adding that Trump told Cohen that if a payment were to be made to the woman, it should be through a cheque — not cash.