Michael Cohen Kept Tapes of Conversations With Trump

OH – This is getting good.

Michael Cohen, longtime personal attorney and “fixer” for Donald Trump is back in the news. The reason may be somewhat uncomfortable for our president.

It would appear that Mr. Cohen wasn’t quite the gullible sap that Trump required him to be, and maybe the years of taking abuse caused some sort of snap in Cohen’s spirit, to the point that he took steps to protect himself.

You know, like making secret recordings of certain arrangements.

In April, Michael Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room were raided by federal authorities. The net from that raid included dozens of electronic devices and millions of documents (including those in the office shredder).

Authorities are looking for evidence pertaining to violations of campaign finance laws, among other things, a concern raised after news of a $130,000 payment to a former Trump mistress, porn star Stormy Daniels, broke.

The payment was made in October 2016, a month before the election. It looks suspiciously like hush money, especially given that Cohen created a shell company to handle the payment.

Cohen and Daniels both said the affair never happened, and that there was no payoff, only to both walk back those claims later.

Daniels has since gone public and is currently wrapped up in a lawsuit regarding the case.

It was President Trump who likely turned authorities on to Cohen by contradicting Cohen’s statements about the payoff, later on.

Today’s bit of news, however, is not about Daniels, but rather, Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who also claims a year-long affair with Trump.

In fact, Daniels and McDougal were apparently both carrying on affairs with Trump at the same time, back in 2005, while Trump’s third wife, Melania, was home with their newborn son.

The New York Times is reporting on the recordings that were made by Cohen, in secret, two months before the 2016 election.

The recordings were part of the material seized during the April raid and could shed light on just how far Trump and those in his circle were willing to go to hide some of the more “inconvenient” details of who Donald Trump is, with only a short time to go before election day.

Honestly, Cohen, Trump, and whoever else may have been behind the ruse could have saved themselves a lot of money and trouble. It has been made increasingly obvious that morality in our leaders isn’t high on the list of concerns with voters, these days.

There was enough dirt that was known (for free) about Donald Trump out there, that I can’t see why these particular women were the breaking point.

Think about it: Trump won after the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape, where he boasted of sexually assaulting women, and said his wealth and fame allowed it.

Never has any presidential candidate been revealed to be more obscene, despicable, and immoral, and then celebrated for it.

Not even the credibly-accused perv, Bill Clinton, can claim that.

Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s current attorney, confirmed that there was a tape, and that there was a conversation about paying off McDougal, but that the payment never happened.

“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Mr. Giuliani said, adding that Mr. Trump had directed Mr. Cohen that if he were to make a payment related to the woman, write a check, rather than sending cash, so it could be properly documented.

“In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” Mr. Giuliani said.

The payment didn’t come from Trump (or Cohen’s shell company). The tabloid paper, the National Enquirer, paid McDougal $150,000 for her story, but then sat on it. That’s called “catch and kill” in the business and is a method often used when there’s an uncomfortable story that someone powerful wants to make go away.

Does that get Trump off the hook?

David J. Pecker, the chairman of The Enquirer’s parent company, is a friend of Mr. Trump’s, and Ms. McDougal has accused Mr. Cohen of secretly taking part in the deal — an allegation that is now part of the F.B.I. investigation.

Oops.

Lanny Davis, lawyer for Cohen, is keeping mum on today’s news, saying they have nothing to say about the matter.

I don’t think this coming out today is for nothing. I don’t think it’s random. There’s a purpose for it, and I would say it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

After all, if Cohen taped this conversation, what else did he tape?

He’s been increasingly vocal about his willingness to roll over on his former client. He may be the one person Donald Trump lives to regret mistreating.