In secret recording, Trump and Cohen discuss payments for story of ex-Playboy model
Federal investigators have an audio recording in which then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his personal attorney Michael Cohen discussed in the fall of 2016 making payments for the story of Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal, who allegedly had an extramarital affair with Trump, according to two people familiar with the tape.
Cohen recorded the conversation with Trump, which was seized by federal agents now investigating Trump's longtime confidant for potential bank and campaign finance crimes, according to multiple familiar with the probe.
In a statement Friday, President Donald Trump's attorney Rudolph Giuliani confirmed the tape's existence and said no payment was ever made. The New York Times first reported the existence of the recording.
Trump and Cohen discussed the possible payment after AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, bought the rights to McDougal's story for $150,000 in August 2016, then sat on it.
"Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of [the AMI payment] in advance," Giuliani said. "In the big scheme of things, it's powerful exculpatory evidence."
The revelation of the tape comes as Cohen has signaled that he might be willing to cooperate with the federal investigation into his business dealings, a probe that has examined his interactions with AMI and a hush-money payment he arranged with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who also claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump.
In the September 2016 conversation, Cohen and Trump were discussing a plan by Cohen to attempt to purchase the rights to McDougal's story from AMI for roughly $150,000, according to one person familiar with recording.
On the tape, Trump can be heard urging Cohen to make sure he properly documents the agreement to buy the rights and urges him to use a check - rather than cash - to keep a record of the transaction, the person said.
It is unclear why Cohen and Trump sought to purchase the story from AMI and then did not complete the transaction.
In a March interview with CNN, McDougal said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007, beginning in the year after Trump married Melania.
The former Playboy model said that after their first sexual encounter, Trump tried to offer her money. She turned down the offer and began a relationship that included, she said, interactions between the two "many dozens of times."
In August 2016, AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, paid McDougal $150,000 for the right to her story but never published an article based on her account. But the agreement meant that McDougal signed a nondisclosure agreement that prevented her from revealing the affair. She filed a lawsuit against AMI this year seeking to regain the rights to her story and settled with the company in April.
In her lawsuit against AMI, McDougal said she was happy when AMI bought her story in August 2016 but did not publish it, because she was not anxious for publicity before the campaign. But her opinion changed this year when she learned new details about the deal, including that her lawyer at the time and AMI had both been in contact with Cohen while her deal was being negotiated.