2016 ELECTION/LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WOMEN: “President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, escalated his dispute with the president on Tuesday [7-24-18] by releasing a secret recording of a conversation in which Mr. Trump appears to have knowledge about hush money payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The recording, which was broadcast by CNN, is sometimes muddled but provides details on payments to the former model, Karen McDougal. However, it does not definitively answer the question about whether Mr. Trump directed Mr. Cohen to make them in cash or by check just two months before the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Cohen is heard telling Mr. Trump that he will need to set up a company to arrange the payments…The word ‘check’ is uttered, but it is not clear by whom, and the audio is then cut off. Lanny J. Davis, a lawyer for Mr. Cohen and a longtime supporter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, told The New York Times on Tuesday night that Mr. Cohen released the tape because he is ‘on a new path — it’s a reset button to tell the truth and to let the chips fall where they may.’ Ms. McDougal was paid $150,000 by The National Enquirer for her story in summer 2016. The tabloid, which has often given Mr. Trump favorable coverage, then did not publish the story. According to people close to Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump, the two men were discussing on the tape a second payment to The Enquirer that would continue to keep Ms. McDougal from speaking publicly about Mr. Trump.”
–Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman and Jim Rutenberg, “Michael Cohen Releases Tape of Trump Discussing Hush Money for Playboy Model,” The New York Times online, July 25, 2018