President Trump, without naming Michael Cohen, has lashed out against him on Twitter
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As pressure mounts, Trump’s ex-attorney turns aggressive
President Trump, without naming Michael Cohen, has lashed out against him on Twitter
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As pressure mounts, Trump’s ex-attorney turns aggressive
President Trump, without naming Michael Cohen, has lashed out against him on Twitter
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As pressure mounts, Trump’s ex-attorney turns aggressive
President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer says he is now willing to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller. Michael Cohen alleges that then-candidate Donald Trump knew in advance about a controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting where Russians offered to give damaging information on Hillary Clinton. That claim would contradict repeated denials by the president and what the president’s son and son-in-law said under oath. Major Garrett reports.
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Michael Cohen, former Trump lawyer, willing to testify before special counsel
(CNN) — Presidential candidate Donald Trump is heard on tape discussing with his attorney Michael Cohen how they would buy the rights to a Playboy model’s story about an alleged affair Trump had with her years earlier, according to the audio recording of the conversation aired exclusively on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.” The recording offers the public a glimpse at the confidential discussions between Trump and Cohen, and it confirms the man who now occupies the Oval Office had contemporaneous knowledge of a proposal to buy the rights to the story of Karen McDougal, a woman who has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump about a decade ago. Cohen told Trump about his plans to set up a company and finance the purchase of the rights from American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer. “I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” Cohen said in the recording, likely a reference to American Media head David Pecker. Trump interrupts Cohen asking, “What financing?” according to the recording. When Cohen tells Trump, “We’ll have to pay.” Trump is heard saying “pay with cash” but the audio is muddled and it’s unclear whether he suggests paying with cash or not paying. Cohen says, “no, no” but it is not clear what is said next. No payment was ever made from Trump, Rudy Giuliani, the President’s attorney, has said. Giuliani has previously acknowledged that the recorded discussion related to the buying the story rights. The recording, which was provided to CNN by Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis, was made in September 2016. “What is this about? This is about honesty versus false disparagement of Michael Cohen. Why is Giuliani out falsely disparaging Michael Cohen — because they fear him,” Davis said on “Cuomo Prime Time.” “What do they fear, Chris? Why am I representing him? They fear that he has the truth about Donald Trump. He will someday speak the truth about Donald Trump. The truth is that when Donald Trump said ‘cash,’ which Rudy Giuliani knows that only drug dealers and mobsters talk about cash, it was, you heard Michael Cohen … say what? ‘No, no, no, no.’” Davis later added: “Ladies and gentlemen, if you voted for Donald Trump, listen to the tape and ask yourself: Is Donald Trump lying when he said he didn’t use the word ‘cash’ and accuses Michael Cohen of using the word ‘cash’? Cohen has been disparaged. Cohen has been insulted and called all sorts of things by people around Donald Trump.” Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Organization, refuted that Trump was offering a cash payment. “Whoever is telling Davis that cash in that conversation refers to green currency is lying to him,” Futerfas told CNN. “There’s no transaction done in green currency. It doesn’t happen. The whole deal never happened. If it was going to happen, it would be a payment to a large company that would obviously be accompanied by an agreement of sale. Those documents would be prepared by lawyers on both sides.” Cash, in the conversation, was in reference to how a deal would be financed, Futerfas added. “The word cash came up in the context of the distinction between financing, which is referenced, and no financing, which means a full payment, a total one-time payment. That’s the context in which the word cash is used,” he said. “Anyone who knows anything about the company or how the President does business knows there is no green cash. Everything is documented. Every penny is documented.” Court filings said federal prosecutors have obtained 12 audio recordings from the FBI raids on Cohen earlier this year . CNN previously reported that Trump’s lawyers waived attorney-client privilege on the President’s behalf regarding the recording involving him personally. The discussion relates to whether Trump should buy the rights of the story from American Media, which paid McDougal $150,000 in August 2016 for her story about an alleged 10 month affair with Trump. The story was never published by AMI. In addition to discussing the McDougal payment, Trump and Cohen are overheard running through a list of potential legal issues, including contesting a New York Times request to unseal divorce records from Trump’s first wife Ivana as well as more mundane matters such as polling numbers and Trump surrogate Pastor Mark Burns. This story is breaking and will be updated. — Chris Cuomo, Kara Scannell and Eli Watkins The-CNN-Wire ( & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)
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‘Pay With Cash’: Lawyer Recorded Trump Discussing Buying Rights To Former Playboy Model’s Story About Alleged Affair
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – President Donald Trump blasted his former attorney Michael Cohen on Twitter for secretly recording at least one conversation between them. This comes after CBS News reported Cohen taped then-candidate Trump discussing a possible payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal , who claimed she once had a year-long affair with the future president. “Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2018 The two-minute phone call was made two months before the 2016 election, CBS News reported. Federal investigators uncovered the recording during raids on Cohen’s home and offices in April. McDougal spoke with CNN earlier this year after settling a lawsuit against the publisher of the National Enquirer, which bought the rights to her story but did not print it. She believes David Pecker, the man behind the tabloid and a friend of the president, killed her story to protect him leading up to Election Day. “There were real feelings between the two of us,” she said. If Trump or Cohen is directly linked to payments made to secure silence from women alleging affairs, there could be a violation of federal campaign finance laws. Sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News the recording was initially protected by attorney-client privilege. That was, until the client – Trump – waived that right.
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‘Inconceivable:’ President Trump Responds To Reports Of Cohen Recording
President Trump tweeted Saturday “your favorite President did nothing wrong” as he blasted his former attorney Michael Cohen for secretly recording at least one of their conversations. Cohen is under a federal investigation. Errol Barnett reports.
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President Trump blasts Michael Cohen on Twitter
Amber Phillips, who writes about politics for the Washington Post, joins “CBS This Morning: Saturday” to discuss the revelation that President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen secretly recorded him discussing payments to a former Playboy model and the continuing fallout from the Helsinki summit earlier this week.
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What legal questions does Michael Cohen’s Trump recording raise?
Amber Phillips, who writes about politics for the Washington Post, joins “CBS This Morning: Saturday” to discuss the revelation that President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen secretly recorded him discussing payments to a former Playboy model and the continuing fallout from the Helsinki summit earlier this week.
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What legal questions does Michael Cohen’s Trump recording raise?
A secret recording of President Trump made by his former personal lawyer appears to undercut the president’s denial of payments to a former Playboy model. Michael Cohen taped a conversation with the president about a payment to the woman a few months before the 2016 election. Errol Barnett reports.
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White House stays silent on secret tape of Trump discussing payments
NEW YORK (CBSNews) — CBS News has learned that shortly before the 2016 election, attorney Michael Cohen secretly recorded a conversation he had with his client, Donald Trump. They discussed making a payment to a Playboy model, Karen McDougal , who claimed she once had an affair with the future president, CBS News Washington correspondent Paula Reid reports. The phone call was made just two months before the presidential election. Federal investigators uncovered the recording, which runs about two minutes, in April during raids on Cohen’s home and offices . The Justice Department is investigating Cohen’s role in paying women to stay silent about their claims of affairs with Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election. If the payments were made to help get him elected, they may be violations of federal campaign finance laws. McDougal says she began a nearly year-long affair with Trump in 2006. Just a few months before the election, the publisher of the National Enquirer purchased her story but never published it. “He always told me he loved me,” McDougal told CNN earlier this year. She told Anderson Cooper that she believed National Enquirer’s purchasing of the story was a favor for Mr. Trump in the last few months of the presidential election. The White House on Friday did not respond to CBS’ inquiries, but has repeatedly denied the affair, issuing a statement in February saying “this is an old story that is just more fake news. The president says he never had a relationship with McDougal.” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis said in a statement “when the recording is heard, it will not hurt Mr. Cohen. Any attempt at spin can not change what is on the tape.” The president’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani , told The New York Times the recording also would not hurt his client. The New York Times first reported the existence of the tape of Cohen and Trump. Payments to women have become a topic the White House and Mr. Trump’s lawyers have had to address in recent months. In May, Giuliani revealed on Fox News that Mr. Trump repaid Cohen for a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the election in 2016. Daniels, like McDougal, claims to have had an affair with Trump. Giuliani insisted that there was no campaign finance violation in that instance. (© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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CBS News: Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Call With President Trump Discussing Payment To Playboy Model
WASHINGTON (CBS News/AP) – President Donald Trump’s attorney is confirming that Trump’s former personal lawyer recorded him discussing a potential payment for an ex-Playboy model who said she had an affair with him. The current Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, told The Associated Press on Friday that the payment was never made. Giuliani says what’s important is that Trump said that if it were made, it should be by check and properly documented. A person familiar with the investigation into former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told the AP the FBI has the recording, made by Cohen two months before Trump’s 2016 election. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing inquiry. Cohen hasn’t immediately responded to messages. The recording was made weeks after the National Enquirer reached a deal to pay Karen McDougal and keep her story secret. When news of that payment emerged two days before the election, a Trump spokeswoman said his campaign had “no knowledge of any of this.” The New York Times reported Friday that months before the November 2016 election, longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen secretly recorded a conversation with then-candidate Donald Trump about payments to McDougal , who alleges she had a roughly year-long relationship with the real estate mogul in 2006. President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen exits the U.S. Federal Court on April 16, 2018, in Lower Manhattan, New York. (Getty Images) The Times cited lawyers and others familiar with the recording. That recording, according to the Times, was seized by the FBI when it raided Cohen’s office in April, as a part of federal investigators’ probe into Cohen’s business dealings. The Times says Cohen’s lawyers became aware of the tape when they reviewed evidence collected by investigators, and Cohen’s lawyers shared the recording with Mr. Trump’s lawyers. Justice Department investigators, as CBS News has reported, are interested in payments made to women who claim they had a relationship with Mr. Trump to determine if there were any campaign finance violations. The report of the recorded conversation comes amid questions of whether Cohen will cooperate with federal investigators as a part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and ties to Trump associates. Cohen, as CBS News’ Jeff Pegues has reported, has been under a great deal of pressure to cooperate. According to Mr. Trump, Cohen is no longer his personal lawyer. McDougal accepted $150,000 from American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of tabloids including the National Enquirer. She sold her story with the expectation that she would write for the Enquirer, but AMI didn’t publish the story, a process sometimes called “catch and kill.” Payments to women have become a topic the White House and Mr. Trump’s lawyers have had to address in recent months. In May, Giuliani revealed on Fox News that Mr. Trump repaid Cohen for a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the election in 2016. Giuliani insisted that there was no campaign finance violation in that instance. (credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Playboy) A White House spokesperson said in a February statement that Mr. Trump denies having had an affair with McDougal. “This is an old story that is just more fake news,” the spokesperson said at the time. “The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal.” © 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Guiliani: Trump Discussed – But Never Made – Payment To Ex-Playboy Model
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CBSNewYork/AP) – Stormy Daniels ‘ lawyer says the adult film actress is in police custody in Ohio and is accused of letting patrons touch her in violation of a state law. Attorney Michael Avenatti says Daniels was arrested at a strip club in Columbus Wednesday night for allegedly allowing a customer to touch her in a “non-sexual manner” on stage. Avenatti calls the arrest “a set up.” An Ohio law known as the Community Defense Act prohibits anyone who isn’t a family member to touch a nude or semi-nude dancer. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was in police custody early Thursday morning and was expected to face a misdemeanor charge. “It’s absurd that law enforcement resources are being spent to conduct a sting operation related to customers touching performers in a strip club in a non-sexual manner,” said Avenatti. Avenatti posted on Twitter on Thursday morning that Daniels will plead not guilty to three misdemeanor charges. As I head out to a very important NATO meeting, I see that FBI Lover/Agent Lisa Page is dodging a Subpoena & is refusing to show up and testify. What can she possibly say about her statements and lies. So much corruption on the other side. Where is the Attorney General? @FoxNews — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2018 A Columbus police spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. A person who answered the phone at the strip club declined to comment. Daniels has said she had sex with President Donald Trump in 2006 , when he was married, which Trump has denied. She’s suing Trump and his former longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement that she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. According to Sirens’ website, Daniels was scheduled to perform Wednesday and Thursday night. (© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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Lawyer: Stormy Daniels Arrested At Ohio Strip Club