Trump denies wrongdoing, says taping of client ‘perhaps illegal’

Washington, July 21 

US President Donald Trump on Saturday denied any wrongdoing a day after reports that his onetime attorney had recorded them both discussing buying the rights to a story by a woman who said she had an affair with Trump. The President said it was “perhaps illegal” for a lawyer to record a client.

“Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning), almost unheard of,” Trump tweeted, in an apparent reference to an FBI raid on the office of his former lawyer Michael Cohen in April.

“Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client, totally unheard of and perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favourite President did nothing wrong!” Trump added.

Trump’s onetime personal attorney Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump two months before the 2016 election in which they discussed buying the rights to a story by a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump, one of the President’s lawyers said on Friday.

Lawyer Rudy Giuliani said no campaign funding was involved in the discussion between Trump and Cohen, who has distanced himself from Trump in recent months as the FBI investigates Cohen’s business dealings. If campaign funds were used, that could run afoul of federal election law, legal experts say.

Before the election, the Trump campaign denied any knowledge of payment to the former model, Karen McDougal, but the taped conversation could undermine those denials.

The existence of the audio recording was first reported by the New York Times, which said Trump and Cohen discussed a potential payment to McDougal.

A representative for McDougal has not responded to requests for comment. The White House had also declined comment. — Reuters

Karen McDougal’s ‘affair’ with US President

• Former Playboy model Karen McDougal (pic) claims she had a months-long 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 September 2016 conversation between Trump and Cohen was about buying the rights to McDougal’s story, which she sold a month earlier to The National Enquirer for $150,000
• The tabloid ultimately sat on it, a practice known as “catch and kill”, preventing it from becoming public. David Pecker, the chairman of its parent company, American Media Inc, is a friend of Trump