Michael Cohen liked to surreptitiously record a lot of people, including many reporters, according to this new report:
DC EXAMINER – The FBI seized more than 100 recordings during the raid of Michael Cohen’s office in April that contain discussions that could pertain to Trump and his businesses, two sources told the Washington Post.
It appears that Cohen taped the conversations, some on his iPhone, without informing the other person that their discussion was being recorded.
President Trump’s voice appears on several of the recordings, but mostly in small snippets, like when he is returning a call from Cohen or asking Cohen to call him back on a voicemail, according to the sources.
The sources indicate that the only recorded conversation in which Trump engaged in a substantive conversations was the tape that aired on CNN Tuesday night.
Many of the recordings are of reporters who Cohen met with or who questioned Cohen about Trump during the campaign and after Trump was elected.
“Many of the recordings are of reporters who Cohen”…and one of those already being reported on is CNN’s Chris Cuomo:
FOX NEWS – Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, secretly recorded a conversation with CNN’s Chris Cuomo and admitted in the tape to arranging—on his own—a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
The recording—which is about two-hours long—included topics ranging from the alleged years-old Trump affair with the former porn star to the payment, the report said. The reported tape could potentially be used by the White House to distance Trump from the Daniels payment and damage Cohen’s character.
Cohen reportedly assured Cuomo that he was not taping their conversation, and put the phone in his desk drawer. The phone appears to record the whole conversation.
“I did it on my own,” Cohen said about the payment in the recording, according to the newspaper. Cohen previously said he “facilitated” the payment with his own money and called it a “private transaction.”
Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani previously revealed that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment through a monthly retainer, but insisted Trump wasn’t aware of the deal until much later.
The reported tape doesn’t indicate whether the payment to the adult-film actress was made to help Trump’s presidential campaign, the paper reported.
The report said it would be a campaign finance violation if Cohen made the payment to bolster the candidate’s chances of getting into office because it violates the election law by making in-kind contribution that exceeds the legal limit and was not disclosed to election regulators.
“It wasn’t for the campaign. It was for [Trump],” Cohen told Cuomo when asked if the payment could be understood as an in-kind contribution, The Journal reported.
So the report on this recording doesn’t really tell us much that we don’t already know. Cohen has always alleged that he made the Porny Daniels payment himself. And I don’t think Cohen saying it to a reporter when he knows he’s recording himself bolsters his credibility in any way. I does show a consistency, though.
But I do find it interesting that Cohen lied to Cuomo about the recording, which went on for two hours. This news might give reporters who met with Cohen a headache – or worse – if it turns out they were acting unethically. Or we may never know the contents of any of these recordings, as they may have nothing to do with Porny Daniels.