On a “big night,” CNN anchor Chris Cuomo broke the airing of the Michael Cohen–Donald Trump tape, but little did Cuomo know that Cohen also taped a conversation he had with him.
Turns out, the only safe place to have a conversation with Trump’s former attorney may be buck naked in a sauna, as The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Cohen recorded a conversation he had with Cuomo, even as he “assured” the anchor he “wasn’t running a tape.”
In the latter tape, two hours long, Cohen told Cuomo that he made the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels “on my own,” and that it “wasn’t for the [Trump] campaign.”
More from WSJ:
“I did it on my own,” Mr. Cohen said of the payment, according to the people familiar with the matter. The conversation took place after The Wall Street Journal in January revealed that Mr. Cohen had arranged the payment to Ms. Clifford…
At one point, asked if the payment could be construed as an in-kind contribution, Mr. Cohen responds: “It wasn’t for the campaign. It was for him,” referring to Mr. Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.
During the conversation with Cuomo, Cohen assured him he wasn't running a tape, telling him he was putting the phone in his desk drawer and that the conversation was off the record. He then recorded the roughly two-hour conversation. https://t.co/DoZqjfupcg
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) July 25, 2018
And while Cohen appears to have burned Cuomo, the real question may be who will trust the lawyer now?
According to The Washington Post, the lawyer had “more than 100 recordings” in his possession, many of them with reporters questioning him about Trump.
Tapes that are now in the hands of federal prosecutors.
More from The Post:
The government has seized more than 100 recordings that Cohen made of his conversations with people discussing matters that could relate to Trump and his businesses and with Trump himself talking, according to two people familiar with the recordings. Cohen appeared to make some recordings with an iPhone — without telling anyone he was taping them.
A significant portion of the recordings is Cohen surreptitiously recording reporters who met with or questioned Cohen about Trump during the campaign and after Trump’s election, the people said.
Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said that his client “had the habit of using his phone to record conversations instead of taking notes.”
And while he failed to tell the other parties involved in the conversations, Davis said Cohen “didn’t intend to be deceptive.”
Conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt responded to a prophetic tweet from Trump asking, “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?” Trump said he heard that Cohen taped conversations with reporters also.
Trump also warned reporters not to be surprised if they had been recorded too.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1022097879253635072
As Hewitt noted, reporters who were “pals” with Cohen must have “fear running up and down” their spines.
And presto: “Michael Cohen recorded a conversation he had with a reporter this year in which he said he arranged “on my own” a $130,000 payment in 2016 to a former adult-film star who alleged an affair with Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.” @WSJ https://t.co/T1WnswaJqn
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) July 25, 2018
Regardless of whether the journalists were self-incriminating.
No, no it doesn’t. It presumes some journalists are often self-serving, ingratiating frauds who suck up in private and would be embarrassed to have their conversations played on the airwaves, or who dish on colleagues and competitors, or are @Steelers @UMichFootball or @USC fans https://t.co/ooNG75T19W
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) July 25, 2018
Here’s a sampling of other reactions from Twitter:
Michael Cohen does 2 hour phone interview with Chris Cuomo, assures Cuomo he's not secretly recording it. But of course he is. From @WSJ: 'Trump’s Former Lawyer Michael Cohen Recorded Conversation About Stormy Daniels Payment With News Anchor.' https://t.co/z9dtWrJ3sg pic.twitter.com/3lBqvwkazx
— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 25, 2018
Cohen is the Slime ball’s slime ball.
— Jackson Pemberton (@pathconsult) July 26, 2018
LOLOLOLOL!!! Cuomo breaks the taped convo last night and now stories come out that Cohen recorded a convo with Cuomo. 😂😂😂😂😂
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW 🐻 (@mchastain81) July 25, 2018
And why anyone would trust him is beyond me
— ⚾️ Mary #FlyTheW 🐻 (@mchastain81) July 25, 2018
‘I’ve never told anyone this, but I sometimes wear a dress at home. Just to feel sexy. This is confidential, right?’
— Mortis (@WitchyDruss) July 25, 2018
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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