Donald Trump says it’s ‘inconceivable’ that his lawyer recorded him
The US president takes to Twitter to criticise Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, over 2016 tape. Cohen’s lawyer calls Trump’s strategy ‘flawed’
US President Donald Trump on Saturday denied any wrongdoing a day after reports that his onetime lawyer Michael Cohen had recorded them both discussing buying the rights to a story by a woman who said she had had an affair with Trump.
The president said in a tweet it was “perhaps illegal” for a lawyer to record a client. A lawyer for Cohen called Trump’s statement “false.”
“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 Cohen in April.
“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!” Trump added.
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Reuters on Friday that Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump in September, two months before the 2016 election, in which they discussed buying the rights to a story by a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Trump.
On Saturday, Giuliani told Reuters the conversation was held at Trump’s office in Trump Tower and that Cohen used a hidden device to record the conversation.