Donald Trump‘s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen secretly taped a discussion with him two months before the presidential election, about payments to a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with the US president, and the tape is now in FBI hands.
The FBI seized the recording earlier this year during a raid on Mr Cohen’s office, The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election.
The recording’s existence further draws Mr. Trump into questions about tactics he and his associates used to keep aspects of his personal and business life a secret.
The former model, Karen McDougal, says she began a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump in 2006, shortly after Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron.
Mr Trump has previously described the raids on Mr Cohen’s office as a “witch hunt” and “an attack on our country”.
Mr Trump’s current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, confirmed the veracity of the recording on Friday, but added that the payment was never made, and said the Republican president had not been party to any wrongdoing.
