Drudge Calls out Cohen: 'THE RAT'
Following the release of audio tape apparently revealing a 2016 communication between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, Trump supporters and critics have been arguing over its interpretation and importance.
Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, released the audio to CNN for broadcast Tuesday evening.
The clip appears to reveal Cohen and Trump discussing a planned payment to keep quiet a former Playboy model’s claims of a decade-old sexual affair with Trump long before he entered national politics.
Regardless of the true intent of either party recorded in the clip, many critics — including Trump himself — argue that Cohen should have never recorded private conversations with clients.
The conservative website Drudge Report linked to a U.K. Daily Mail article on the new developments with its own headline describing Cohen as “The Rat.”
Trump joined those critical of Cohen’s conduct with a tweet early Wednesday morning.
What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped – can this be so? Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2018
“What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad!” he wrote. “Is this a first, never heard of it before?”
The president went on to question why the audio was “so abruptly terminated (cut)” even though he was “presumably saying positive things.” He also hinted that Cohen similarly recorded conversations with others.
“I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped – can this be so? Too bad!” he wrote.
Trump’s current attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, had previously confirmed the tape’s existence, claiming it actually helped Trump make the case that he did not know about any payments to women in the final weeks of the campaign.
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani told The New York Times last week.
Subsequent reports indicate prosecutors have at least a dozen tapes involving Cohen.
Trump also addressed the issue previously via Twitter with a post last week after the tape’s existence was first reported.
Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2018
“Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of,” Trump wrote at the time.
He went on to mention Cohen indirectly.
“Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal,” he wrote. “The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!”
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