The recording was among the troves of documents and materials seized in the FBI raid of Cohen’s hotel, residence and office earlier this year. A transcript of the recording was reviewed by the Trump legal team, which does not believe it is a legal problem for the President.
Speaking to the Times, Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump, confirmed that the payment was discussed. McDougal eventually signed a contract with the company that owns the National Enquirer, which barred her from publicly speaking about the alleged affair before the 2016 election. Trump has denied McDougal’s allegations of an affair.
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani told the Times Friday, adding, “In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence.”
A lawyer for Cohen declined to comment to the Times.
In August 2016, McDougal signed an agreement with American Media Inc., which owns The National Enquirer, Us Weekly, Men’s Journal and several other publications. She believed at the time the contract was a work agreement that would allow her to be photographed for and write pieces that would run in the companies’ publications.
Her attorney for that negotiation was Keith Davidson. She told CNN she later found out Davidson was in contact with Cohen.
Speaking with CNN’s Anderson Cooper in March, McDougal alleged that she and Trump were together “many dozens of times” and answered in the affirmative when asked if they were intimate.
McDougal described the alleged affair from 2006 to 2007 as a consensual, loving relationship, and said she did not know Trump might have seen other women at the time besides his wife — and that throughout their relationship, he did not use protection.
“I didn’t know he was intimate with other ladies,” she said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” at the time. “I thought I was the only one.”
Source : Nbcnewyork
