2LT International News

WASHINGTON, U.S. – Once called the U.S. President Donald Trump’s fix-it man, Michael Cohen is both powerful and powerless right now. 

While he continues to face federal criminal investigation on suspicion of bank fraud, wire fraud, and election law violations along with the probe into his hush money payments on behalf of Trump – he is also believed to be in a position to offer a tell-all on the President, whose election campaign continues to face an investigation over allegations of collusion with the Russians. 

Over the weekend, it emerged that Cohen secretly recorded a discussion with Trump in 2016, over a possible payment to a former Playboy model, who claimed to have had an affair with the future president.

The conversation was said to have taken place two months before the 2016 U.S. election and on Saturday, a report in The New York Times revealed that the FBI seized this recording along with scores of others, during a raid on his office, home and hotel room in April this year.

In his first public reaction to the existence of the secret recordings, Trump said it was “inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of & perhaps illegal.”

However, on Tuesday, the tape was provided to CNN by Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis. 

The network aired the recording, in which Cohen and Trump can be heard discussing how to hush up allegations that he had an affair with the Playboy model, Karen McDougal.

The discussion between Trump and his then fiercely loyal attorney took place two months before the 2016 election.

It was recorded weeks after the National Enquirer’s parent company reached a $150,000 deal to pay McDougal for her story of the 2006 affair.

However, National Enquirer never published the story – the tabloid practice is known as catch and kill, reports had revealed when the issue came to light.

McDougal has said that AMI agreed to pay her $150,000 for her story but then did not publish it and has filed a lawsuit seeking the right to speak publicly about her alleged affair with Trump.

McDougal has claimed that she and Trump had a year-long affair in 2006, which is the same year that porn star Stormy Daniels claims to have had a one-night stand with Trump – which was also shortly after Melania Trump, gave birth to their son.

Meanwhile, in the recording, Trump – who has previously denied the affair and any knowledge of the deal between McDougal and the publication – can be heard discussing the process to buy the rights to McDougal’s story.

Cohen talks about essentially reimbursing the company for what it paid McDougal.

A day after CNN aired the tape, Trump slammed his ex-lawyer over the secret recordings and the “outrageous” leak.

Trump tweeted, “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? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped — can this be so? Too bad!”

With the tape being revealed and reports also revealing this week that prosecutors had at least 12 Cohen tapes – speculation has been rife about exactly how much damage Cohen can inflict on the president.

In the aftermath of the revelations over the weekend, Trump’s current legal head, Rudy Giuliani denied that Trump had an affair with McDougal. 

Further, he said that the tape would show that Trump made clear that if there were going to be a payment, it should be done by cheque, which would be easily traced. 

Giuliani even pointed out that the payment was never made and said that no campaign funding was involved in the discussion between Trump and Cohen. 

In the tape that was aired however, Trump can be clearly heard saying “pay with cash.”

When confronted, calling the leak “outrageous,” Giuliani said that he had an expert enhance the muffled recording and that Trump actually said, “Don’t pay with cash.”

This, he argued, showed that Trump was not trying to hide the potential payment to a media company to keep McDougal’s story from becoming public. 

However, a lawyer for Cohen has accused Giuliani of “inventing words.”

The presence of the recordings and its eventual leak to the media signal a new level of open hostility between the president and Cohen.