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Trump lashes ex-lawyer, says taping of client ‘perhaps illegal’
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump lashed out
at his former lawyer on Saturday, saying Michael Cohen may have acted
illegally in secretly taping their discussion about a payment to hush up an
alleged affair with a Playboy model.
Trump’s early-morning tweet was his first direct reaction to a New York
Times report Friday that the FBI had seized the recording during an April
raid on Cohen’s office amid an investigation of possible Trump campaign
collusion with Russia.
Cohen has not yet been arrested or charged with any crime. But his
cooperation with the government could prove vital to prosecutors — a
scenario that could be made more likely by an open split with Trump.
While Cohen was once quoted as saying he would “take a bullet” for the
president, Trump’s tweet and the sharp reply from Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis
could signal that the bond between the two has been damaged, if not broken.
“Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office
(early in the morning) – almost unheard of,” Trump tweeted Saturday.
“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!”
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal claims she had an affair with Trump
after they met in 2006, shortly after Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to
their son Barron. She told CNN previously that he tried to pay her for sex.
The Wall Street Journal said the recorded September 2016 conversation
between Trump and Cohen was about buying the rights to McDougal’s story,
which she had sold a month earlier to The National Enquirer for $150,000.
The tabloid never published the story. The chairman of its parent company,
American Media, is a friend of Trump.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s current personal attorney, confirmed to the Times
that the Cohen tape existed, but said it showed the president had done
nothing wrong. He called it “exculpatory” because it showed Trump had no
advance knowledge of a possible payment.
None in fact was made.
But Davis tweeted on Saturday that Trump and Giuliani’s strategy in the
matter was “flawed; just as is #Trump’s false #Twitter statement made
against” Cohen.
– Ethical issues –
The reports raise questions about why Trump’s campaign denied knowledge of
the deal between McDougal and American Media when it became public, and they
have fanned speculation about how much damage Cohen might be able to inflict
on the president.
Regarding Trump’s claim of illegality, New York state law permits the
recording of a phone call or an in-person conversation as long as one party
consents, according to attorney John B. Harris, who authored an article on
the subject for the New York Legal Ethics Reporter.
Yet “it remains murky whether and when a New York lawyer can ethically tape
without advance disclosure,” Harris said.
Stephen Gillers, an authority of legal ethics and professor at New York
University School of Law, told The American Lawyer in April that such
recordings are “an issue on which the national profession has not come to
common agreement,” but he argued that law firms should forbid the practice
except in very narrow circumstances.
– McDougal and Daniels –
The FBI raided Cohen’s home and office on a referral from special counsel
Robert Mueller, who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election
and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the probe, a theme he returned to on
Saturday.
The investigation “seems intent on damaging the Republican Party’s chances
in the November Election,” Trump tweeted, referring to the upcoming midterm
congressional polls.
“No Collusion, No Obstruction – but that doesn’t matter,” Trump wrote.
The Justice Department says Cohen has been under investigation for months
for criminal conduct largely centered on his personal business dealings.
Prosecutors are apparently interested in payments he made on Trump’s behalf
to porn actress Stormy Daniels, and other business dealings related to Trump.
Daniels and McDougal allege they had affairs with Trump around the same
time, in 2006.
Cohen, who became Trump’s personal lawyer in 2007, paid $130,000 to Daniels
— real name, Stephanie Clifford — shortly before the 2016 election to keep
her quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, told MSNBC Saturday the Cohen recording put
Trump in an uncomfortable legal position because it was evidence he may have
broken campaign finance law.
“If Donald Trump knew that Michael Cohen was going to be making payments on
his behalf, or others were going to be making payments on his behalf, in
order to influence the 2016 election, that may in fact constitute evidence of
direct campaign finance violations which can be criminal in nature,” he said.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0938 hrs