President Donald Trump criticized his former lawyer Michael Cohen for recording a conversation they had about the payment of a playboy model who alleged she had an affair with Trump.
Trump’s first comments since CNN aired the audio Tuesday night were on twitter where he asked what kind of man would tape his own client.
“What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?”
Although Trump did not name Cohen he offered a series of questions about the recording.
“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?” Trump tweeted.
“I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped, can this be so? Too bad!” he added.
In the tape, Cohen can be heard telling Trump that he needs “to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” seeming to refer to American Media Inc. head David Pecker.
“What financing?” Trump asks, interrupting Cohen.
The lawyer tells the then-candidate, “we’ll have to pay,” and Trump is heard telling him, “pay with cash,” though it’s not clear from the muddled sound whether Trump is suggesting paying or not paying.
The recording is legal, as New York only requires one party to consent to allow a conversation to be recorded. However, experts have largely said the tape does not prove any criminal wrongdoing.
The FBI seized 12 recordings during a raid of Cohen’s apartment, office and hotel room earlier this year. The contents of the other tapes are not publicly known at this time.
Cohen worked for years as the President’s fixer at the Trump Organization, but now is reportedly under investigation for bank fraud and campaign finance law violations.
He has raised speculation he might cooperate with investigators in recent weeks after saying his “first loyalty” is to the country, not Trump.
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