Tick. Tock. TicBOOM!
Breaking News: President Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly recorded Trump before the 2016 election discussing payments to a former Playboy model https://t.co/m9SrsHwO61— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 20, 2018
Here's an excerpt of the story in the New York Times:
President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, according to lawyers and others familiar with the recording.
The F.B.I. seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office. The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Prosecutors want to know whether that violated federal campaign finance laws, and any conversation with Mr. Trump about those payments would be of keen interest to them.
The recording’s existence further draws Mr. Trump into questions about tactics he and his associates used to keep aspects of his personal and business life a secret. And it highlights the potential legal and political danger that Mr. Cohen represents to Mr. Trump. Once the keeper of many of Mr. Trump’s secrets, Mr. Cohen is now seen as increasingly willing to consider cooperating with prosecutors.
The former model, Karen McDougal, says she began a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump in 2006, shortly after Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron. Ms. McDougal sold her story for $150,000 to The National Enquirer, which was supportive of Mr. Trump, during the final months of the presidential campaign, but the tabloid sat on the story, which kept it from becoming public. The practice, known as “catch and kill,” effectively silenced Ms. McDougal for the remainder of the campaign.Three points (beyond bwahahahaha!):
1) This is part of the Southern District of New York's investigation (not the Special Counsel's probe);
2) This is the tip of the iceberg, given the volume of material seized by the F.B.I. in their raid on Cohen's home, office, etc.
3) As far as timing, Rump must've really frightened/ pissed off some F.B.I. agents/ Federal prosecutors by his canoodling with his handler Vladimir Putin while dissing U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, although shrewder observers are saying the leak came from Cohen's lawyers.
