Feds Now Have Michael Cohen’s Stormy Daniels Tapes, CNN Reports

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen made tapes of his conversations with a lawyer representing two women who say they had sexual encounters with Trump shorty after he married his third wife, Melania—and federal prosecutors now investigating possible crimes by Cohen have copies of those tapes, CNN reported on Monday.  Those two women were, of course, AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels and former two-time Playboy centerfold model Karen McDougal. Cohen negotiated “hush money” payoffs for both women on Trump’s behalf with lawyer Keith Davidson, who represented them in separate arrangements. But both Daniels and McDougal later sued to negate those deals for their silence, claiming that rather than represent their interests, Davidson had colluded with Cohen to protect Trump. As AVN.com reported, Cohen and Davdson remained in contact as recently as April 11 of this year, months after Daniels and McDougal had each fired Davidson and retained new attorneys, and two days after the FBI raided Cohen’s residences and business, seizing more than a million documents including the recordings. The revelation regarding th Cohen tapes came on the same day that Cohen gave his first news media interview since news of the criminal investigation against him broke with the raids on April 9, telling ABC News that his first loyalties are to “family and country.” Cohen had previously boasted about his “extreme loyalty” to Trump and willingness to “take a bullet” for his boss, but appeaed distance himslef from Trump in the new interview. But even as Cohen was giving his interview, Cohen’s lawyer filed a sardonically worded brief in a Los Angeles federal court, demanding that the court bar Daniels’ current lawyer, Michael Avenatti, from giving his own interviews. In the document, Cohen’s lawyer Brent Blakely compares Avenatti to “a small-town carnival magician who attempts to confuse the audience with smoke and mirrors,” by invoking the First Amendment to defend his right to speak publicly. Read the full court document online at this link.  Why Cohen wants to silence Avenatti, even as he conducts his own media public relations campaign, was made clear yesterday as Daniels’ lawyer wasted little time in ripping into Cohen’s statements made in the ABC interview, accusing Cohen of “playing games” with the interview, which was “a nothingburger” designed only to prod Trump into covering his legal expenses. Avenatti, via his own Twitter account, scoffed at Cohen’s claims that his patriotism will be a factor as he decides whether or not to cooperate with prosecutors and offer incriminating information on Trump. “If this is about ‘love of country’ as Mr. Cohen claims, then he should come clean NOW,” Avenatti wrote. “He does not have to wait to be indicted/arrested. And if he is waiting for that, it tells you everything you need to know about his true intentions.” Avenatti also gave an interview to CNN, accusing Cohen of merely feigning his new separation from Trump. “I think he’s playing games with the American people. Its clear to me that Michael Cohen’s loyalty still lies with the president,” Avenatti said.  “You don’t wait for the arrest warrant. You don’t wait to be indicted. You don’t wait to find out what the charges are.” Photos by J. Chang / IowaPolitics.com / Wikimedia Commons