US President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Trump before the 2016 presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump, the New York Times reported on Friday.
The newspaper, citing lawyers and others familiar with the recording, said the FBI seized the recording this year during a raid on Cohen’s office.
Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Cohen for possible bank and tax fraud, and for possible campaign law violations linked to a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and other matters related to Trump’s campaign, a person familiar with the investigation has told Reuters.
The FBI seized documents and files as part of that investigation, which stemmed in part from a referral by the US special counsel’s office, which is looking into possible coordination during the 2016 election campaign between Trump’s aides and Russia.
The existence of a recording raises further questions about the tactics Trump used to keep his personal and business life secret while he was seeking public office.
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