ALSO SEE: Caught in Brazen Lie, Trump Rewrites Transcript of
Cohen Tape to Fit His Own Alternate Reality

Trump Claims Tape of Payment May Have Been Doctored, While Cohen Claims There Are More

By Louis Nelson, Politico

25 July 18

Michael Cohen's lawyer on Wednesday also said 'there are certainly more tapes.'

resident Donald Trump said on Wednesday that it is “so sad” that his longtime personal attorney recorded their private conversations, suggesting that audio released Tuesday has been doctored to exclude “positive things” that he was “presumably” saying.

“What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things?” the president wrote on Twitter. “I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!”

Trump’s social media post follows CNN’s Tuesday night publication of a recording of him speaking with his longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, about a payment intended to silence former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims to have had an affair with the president. Trump has previously denied the affair and being aware of any payments to McDougal.

It is unclear what other recordings, if they exist, with “other clients and many reporters” Trump was referring to, although Cohen has also done legal work for Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Republican National Committee Deputy Finance Chair Elliott Broidy.

The audio, recorded during the 2016 presidential campaign, is at times garbled and portions are open to interpretation. At one point, Trump and Cohen are discussing a payment, prompting Trump to utter the word “cash” amid an otherwise unintelligible sentence. The president’s legal team has argued Trump was saying “don’t pay with cash,” a phrase Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, insists cannot be heard on the tape.

Davis said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that “there are certainly more tapes” of Cohen’s interactions with the president and that Cohen often recorded conversations in order to take notes.

He also said Cohen is not seeking a pardon from the president, a possibility that has been the subject of significant speculation as Cohen’s role in the president’s multiple legal battles has grown.

Trump’s legal team, led by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, released a transcript of the tape Wednesday night that shows Trump telling Cohen “don’t pay with cash” and later making mention of a “check.” Giuliani said in a statement that the transcript “accurately reflects the taped conversation.”

In an interview with Fox News Wednesday night, the former New York mayor claimed the recording is “crystal clear when you listen to it” and insisted that Trump did not know of any transaction with McDougal before the taped conversation with Cohen. He also told Fox News that “I don’t think anyone can suggest that this represents anything where the president did anything wrong.”

Davis, who served as special counsel to then-President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, argued Wednesday morning that while the tape offers little in terms of evidence of a crime, it gets to the “lies and truth” of the president and his team. Cohen, Davis said, “has turned a corner in his life and he's now dedicated to telling the truth to everyone.”

That the president sought a cash payment, Davis suggested, is evidence of likely wrongdoing or intent to conceal.

“It's about truth, and the power of the truth is what Michael Cohen now has no matter what Giuliani invents, or Mayor Giuliani invents for a president who's been known to lie. Don't believe me. Listen to the tape,” Davis said on ABC. “We know that Trump used the word ‘cash’ and people who use cash, Rudy Giuliani knows when he's U.S. Attorney, are either drug dealers or are mobsters.”

The developments this week escalated the battle between Trump and Cohen — and their lawyers — as the legal interests of the president and his longtime lawyer-slash-fixer have diverged.

Cohen's office and residences were raided by the FBI in April after special counsel Robert Mueller, whose office is investigating allegations of collusion between the Russian government and Trump's 2016 campaign, made a referral to New York prosecutors. While Cohen has not yet been charged with any crimes, he is reportedly under investigation for payments he made during the 2016 campaign to women claiming sexual encounters with Trump. Investigators are trying to determine whether the payments could represent campaign finance violations.

As Trump's longtime lieutenant, Cohen once said he would "take a bullet" for his boss, but he has more recently signaled his cooperation with investigators and said he would "put family and country first."