Trump Tape Is About ‘Lies and Truth,’ Cohen’s Lawyer Says
A no-longer-secret tape of President Trump’s discussing a hush payment to bury a former Playboy model’s story of their alleged affair is about “lies and truth,” the attorney for Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen said.
Lanny Davis spoke out on “Good Morning America” Wednesday, telling ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump and his advisers have been concocting stories about what was said by whom on the tape that Cohen surreptitiously recorded in September 2016 before Trump was elected president.
On the tape, Cohen informs then-candidate Trump about a plan Cohen allegedly devised to try to purchase the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story from American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer.
McDougal has said she had an affair with Trump, who has been married to first lady Melania Trump since 2005, in 2006, which Trump has repeatedly denied.
Davis told Stephanopoulos the tape shows that Trump is the one who raised the idea of paying “cash” to American Media to keep McDougal’s story under wraps. But Trump’s attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has countered with an alleged transcript of the tape in which Trump tells Cohen “Don’t pay with cash … check.”
