Donald Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen are at war and the public is watching it unfold. As Axios says “Cohen has totally turned against Trump and appears willing to weaponize the information, and secret recordings, he has at his disposal.”
Today Trump is reacting to CNN obtaining and releasing a tape where the President (then a candidate) talked about how to pay to get the rights to a story about an alleged affair Trump had with a Playboy model.
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 positive things can you say about a payment to a mistress? Also, Trump had denied having an affair with Karen McDougal, so this tape seems to confirm that he lied. How can that be positive? It’s just more gas lighting. Trump is banking on the fact that he convinced supporters to believe what he says now and no one else. He just said yesterday, “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.” In this case, he is trying to change the meaning of something he himself said in the past, similar to what he did after the news conference with Vladimir Putin. The idea is that even if Trump said something himself he can convince you it was “fake news.”
For those who actually listened to the tape and not just to Trump’s spin here are some takeaways.
As former prosecutor, 3 things notable about Cohen tape:
1) Clear Giuliani was untruthful when he said Trump didn’t know
2) Goal was to kill story before election, so campaign motivated
3) Regardless of cash or check, whole point of phony corp. was to hide campaign expenditure
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 25, 2018
Make no mistake: what you heard on that audiotape was a career criminal talking to his fixer.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 25, 2018
CONCLUSION: Don’t believe Trump’s surrogates, stooges, or clandestine adviser-pundits: this is hard evidence of an election felony. The tape establishes motive, context, and state of mind for hiding from the FEC and voters unreported campaign contributions made by Cohen to Trump.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 25, 2018
If Mr. Cohen really wants to do the right thing, he must IMMEDIATELY: 1) release ALL OF THE TAPES; 2) release the rest of the evidence (texts and emails); 3) come clean about his conduct & that of Mr. Trump; and 4) state in writing he will not accept a pardon. NO MORE GAMES.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 25, 2018
