CNN Airs Trump-Cohen Tape

Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump can be heard on tape discussing with his attorney Michael Cohen how they would buy the rights to Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair they had a year earlier.

The audio tape, which was made in September 2016, was provided to CNN by Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis, and the contents of the tape aired on the network Tuesday.

According to The Washington Times, the tape reveals that President Trump was aware of the idea for American Media to buy the rights to McDougal’s story so it would never come to light.

However, due to the quality of the tape and the muddled audio, it is unclear whether Trump tells Cohen to pay with cash, or not pay with cash.

Cohen can be heard saying, “No, no, no,” after Trump’s suggestion.

According to Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, no payment was made from Trump to McDougal.

Federal prosecutors have obtained 12 audio recordings, according to court filings. The tapes were obtained during the FBI raid on Cohen’s office earlier this year.

America Media paid McDougal $150,000 in August 2016 for the rights to her story about an alleged 10 month extramarital affair with Trump, but the story was never published.

Porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti tweeted shortly after the tapes were aired on CNN, claiming that Cohen was “not innocent” but instead a “co-conspirator dishonest thug.”