Donald Trump has been dancing as fast as he can to take the media’s attention off of his mega-blunder with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland and the investigation into possible conspiracy between Russia and his presidential campaign. Yet, he has something equally awful to be worried about now.
Attorney Michael Avenatti for the porn star and director Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit against Donald Trump, said the two-minute secret audio recording of Trump talking with his former personal attorney was not the only one. Not by a long shot, and a judge agreed.
According to the lawsuit documents, federal prosecutors captured 12 audio tapes from Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Special master Barbara Jones reviewed all of the materials the FBI seized during its raid on Cohen.
She said she released the tapes to federal investigators. At this time, the tapes’ contents remain a mystery.
Avenatti dropped his bombshell on ABC’s This Week, saying there were “countless hours of recordings.” According to The Washington Post, Daniels’ attorney said:
‘Our understanding is there are countless hours of recordings of conversations between Michael Cohen and others. The conversations include conversations with Mr. Trump.’
Daniels’ attorney told host George Stephanopoulos that Cohen, made “multiple tapes:”
‘This is not the only tape. I can tell you that for a fact. There’s multiple tapes. That, ultimately, is going to prove to be a big problem for the president. You know, that old adage, “You’ve lived by the sword, you die by the sword,” is going to be true in this case, because the president knew that his attorney, Michael Cohen, had a predisposition toward taping conversations with people.’
Trump’s having a horrible month. ? ? ? ? pic.twitter.com/mpwgtvi9qE
— Blue Wave (@BlueWave_2020) July 23, 2018
In the first tape, Cohen taped POTUS discussing whether to buy the rights to Karen McDougal’s story from his friend. The Playboy centerfold allegedly had an eight-month affair with the president in 2006, while he was married to First Lady Melania Trump.
The commander-in-chief’s old friend, owner of The National Enquirer’s parent company, AMI, bought the exclusive rights to McDougal’s story for $150,000 and then killed it. She was effectively silenced.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating Russia’s attack on the 2016 presidential election and any alleged conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign members. As part of that investigation, the FBI raided Cohen’s office, home, hotel where the family was staying during repairs, and even his bank safe deposit box.
They discovered the tapes at that time. New York state allows a one-party permission to tape, which meant that Cohen taping was perfectly legal, if not ethical.
Daniels’ attorney refused to discuss the tape or tapes and said that the FBI information was not “under lock and key,” and he did not act illegally by discussing them:
‘All of the information that the FBI seized, that’s not under lock and key. I could have received it from Michael Cohen. I could have received it from one of Michael Cohen’s counsel. I could have received it from others.’
Avenatti mentioned he had coincidentally run into Cohen in a New York City restaurant, and called their conversation “very fruitful:”
‘I think he is ready to tell the truth. And ultimately, I think he is going to cooperate with us as it relates for our search for the truth.’
Former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, has also been one of the attorneys representing the president of these United States. There are some who believe that the Trump attorneys chose to release this tape to diffuse its impact.
Giuliani called the tape “powerful exculpatory (free from guilt) evidence.” However, the tape was actually inculpatory (guilty) evidence.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
