Lordy, there are more tapes!
A new report by the retired judge overseeing the review of documents seized by the FBI from President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen reveals that a dozen audio files are fair game for prosecutors.
The letter filed Monday by Barbara Jones, the former Manhattan Federal Court judge scrutinizing Cohen’s documents for attorney-client privilege, showed that Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization had waived privilege claims to “12 audio items.”
The update came three days after The New York Times revealed that the FBI had seized a recording of Trump and Cohen discussing a payment to silence ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with the soon-to-be President. The conversation took place two months before the 2016 election.
Cohen is being investigated for campaign finance violations, as well as wire fraud and bank fraud charges.
Over the weekend, several outlets reported that Trump’s legal team had waived a privilege claim regarding Trump’s conversation with Cohen about McDougal. Trump’s attorney, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said that the call was “exculpatory” for the President.
The letter from Jones reveals that Trump’s team waived privilege claims for a dozen other audio files the same day, The Times reported on the McDougal conversation. The new letter from Jones greatly expands the number of recorded conversations being examined by federal prosecutors.
“Latest news @MichaelCohen212 tapes of conversations are being released by @realDonaldTrump & his legal team who own and waived the privilege. Will @RudyGiuliani call these tapes “exculpatory” again? As I noted before, the tapes will speak for themselves – spin can’t change facts,” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis wrote on Twitter.
Jones wrote that her review is ongoing.