Federal prosecutors have 12 Cohen tapes after Trump waives privilege
Michael Cohen/a katz (Shutterstock.com.)
Twelve audio tapes recorded by Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, have been turned over to federal prosecutors.
The special master overseeing the privilege review of items seized in FBI raids of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April said in a court filing Monday that the tapes were given to federal prosecutors in Manhattan after parties withdrew their designations of privilege, report the New York Times, Politico, the Associated Press and Reuters.
Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said in a tweet that Trump and his legal team had waived the privilege to the tapes. One of Trump’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, confirmed the waiver in an interview with Reuters.
Special master Barbara Jones did not reveal the contents of the tapes. But Giuliani told Reuters that one of the tapes includes the president’s discussion of payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who had alleged an affair with Trump. When the September 2016 tape was revealed last week, Giuliani said the recording shows Trump did nothing wrong. Giuliani also denied that Trump had an affair with McDougal.
The other 11 tapes recorded conversations of Cohen mentioning Trump to someone else, Giuliani said.
