Trump’s Lawyer Recorded Conversation with Him About Paying Mistress to Keep Silent About Affair

Longtime attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Trump before the 2016 election in which they discussed paying a Playboy bunny who claims to have been Trump’s mistress, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Citing lawyers and other informed sources, the paper reports that the FBI seized the recording during a search of Cohen’s office this year.

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Cohen for tax evasion and bank fraud, as well as possible violations of campaign finance laws.

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The latest allegation is related to the payment of $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels and other matters concerning Trump’s campaign, the source said.

The FBI seized documents and files during an investigation that is one branch of the broader investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible connections between Trump associates and Russia during the election campaign.

Cohen’s lawyers and Trump’s legal representative Rudy Giuliani were not available for comment.

Giuliani told the NYT that Trump discussed payments with Cohen on the recording, but that they never occurred.

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He added that the recording lasts two minutes and proves that the president did nothing wrong.

Former model Karen McDougal said she had an affair with Trump in 2006, shortly after his wife Melania gave birth to their son Baron.

McDougal sold her story to the National Enquirer for $150,000 late in the election campaign, but the tabloid, owned by a friend of Trump, never published it, according to the NYT.

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Stripper Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is seeking to legally void the 2016 agreement under which she received $130,000 for silence about her sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Trump denies the affair with McDougal, as well as ever having sexual relations with Daniels.

Washington Post writes in a commentary on this case that “the parade of scandals and controversies has not ceased since Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, nor will it ever cease… As for Cohen’s tapes… one should never underestimate the power of audio recordings. Hearing a politician say something in their own voice is far more impactful than seeing their words printed” and concludes that Trump “is simply one of the most comprehensively corrupt individuals today in the U.S. – and coincidentally, he is also the president.”

The Atlantic compares this case to Watergate, the scandal over wiretapping that led to the resignation of then U.S. President Richard Nixon. The Atlantic believes that “our political world has changed. Watergate generated so much distrust in government that it lowered public expectations of leaders. This is threefold true with Trump, whose own loyal supporters understand that he is an extremely deficient man, yet they still love him.”