President Trump said Saturday that his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s reported taping of their phone conversations was “perhaps illegal.”
“Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) — almost unheard of,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “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!”
The New York Times reported Friday that federal investigators have an audio tape of Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen two months before the 2016 election discussing a payment to former Playboy bunny Karen McDougal, who alleges an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006. No payment was made.
Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani confirmed Friday that Mr. Trump had discussed payments to Ms. McDougal with Mr. Cohen on the recording. He told The Times that the recording was less than two minutes long and that Mr. Trump did not know he was being recorded, asserting the president had done nothing wrong.
The FBI seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office, and reportedly has collected other audio recordings of Mr. Trump’s conversations with his then-personal attorney.
The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in allegedly paying hush money to women prior to the election to keep them from going public with their allegations of affairs with Mr. Trump.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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