So now there are tapes.
Courtesy of CNN:
Federal prosecutors investigating President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen have received 12 audio recordings from the materials seized by the FBI during the searches of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room, according to court filings.
The former judge reviewing the material for attorney-client privilege wrote in a court filing Monday that the parties involved in the case had withdrawn their privilege designation on the 12 audio files on Friday. The items had been under consideration by the special master, Barbara Jones, according to the filing.
“Based upon those de-designations, the special master released the 12 items to the government that day,” the filing said.
On Friday, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said Cohen had secretly recorded a conversation between himself and Trump in which the two discussed a payment to a former Playboy model who has alleged an affair with Trump. That recording, concerning Karen McDougal, is among the 12 files referenced in the court filing, according to a source familiar with the matter, and is the only one of the 12 that is of Cohen and Trump.
Trump’s attorneys had waived attorney-client privilege on his behalf on that recording, CNN reported on Friday.
The filing does not specify who is on the remaining tapes, though I would bet money that Trump makes at least one more appearance, or exactly what is being discussed on them.
Cohen and Trump did not claim that the conversations on these tapes were privileged which likely means that Trump does not think there is anything terribly incriminating on them, but he is such a poor judge of what is and isn’t criminal behavior they still might be a problem for him moving forward.
I just hope we all get a chance to listen to them, and according to Michael Avanatti, we could if Cohen wanted that to happen.
Mr. Cohen has a copy of all 12 recordings. There is now no claim of privilege and there is no court order requiring them to be kept secret. They must be released immediately. Otherwise, he should not ever try and claim he is a Patriot or speak of love of country! #Basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 23, 2018
By the way, I am almost certain that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to audio tapes that were seized from Michael Cohen, and imagine there are more out there which may actually have evidence on them that Trump will be desperate to keep quiet.
Stay tuned.
