Washington, Jul 21 (EFE).- US President Donald Trump said Saturday that it is unheard of, perhaps illegal that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, would make a recording of a conversation in which both talked about paying off a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with the magnate, as The New York Times reported.
“Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of,” Trump tweeted.
“Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!” he said.
That was Trump’s response to the news reported by the Times that quotes attorneys and other sources familiar with the recording, which was seized by the FBI in a raid of Cohen’s office while investigating his part in paying off women to keep them from going public with stories potentially damaging to Trump before the 2016 elections.
The criminal investigation seeks to discover whether those payments violated the laws governing electoral campaign financing. During a search last April the FBI confiscated a number of documents regarding another case – a $130,000 transfer by Trump’s lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
As The New York Times reported then, in the raid the agents also picked up documents related to another two women. One of them, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, said she had a year-long affair with Trump in 2006 and was identified this Friday as the woman talked about on the recording.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, confirmed to the Times this Friday that the president speaks on the recording less than two minutes with Cohen about paying the woman, but added that in the end the transfer was never made, which is why the document is “powerful exculpatory evidence.”
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he (Trump) had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani said, adding that the magnate told Cohen that if he had to make a payment, he should document it with a check instead of paying cash.