LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday [7-25-18] expressed disbelief that his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen would have taped conversations with him, a day after an audio recording of a conversation between the two men was aired on U.S. television. A lawyer for Cohen, Lanny Davis, released the recording of Trump and Cohen discussing paying for the rights to a Playboy model’s story about an alleged affair with Trump and it aired on CNN on Tuesday Night. Government watchdog group Common Cause has said that the proposed payment benefited Trump’s presidential election campaign and the failure to document it was potentially illegal. Some legal experts, however, say that if the payment was made for personal reasons, it would not run afoul of federal election laws. Under U.S. election law, presidential candidates must disclose expenses, loans and campaign contributions, which are defined as things of value given to a campaign in order to influence an election.”
–Eric Beech, Karen Freifeld, Warren Strobel, “Trump says ‘too bad’ after Cohen audio recording released,” Reuters, July 25, 2018 4:46 am