This Damning Trump Tape Will Be Used Against Him in Hush-Money Trial

Just before the 2016 election, Michael Cohen secretly taped a phone conversation with Donald Trump discussing how he would pay off former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Now, prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office say they intend to use the audio in court.

“You will get a chance to hear that recording during this trial,” said Manhattan district attorney prosecutor Matthew Colangelo on Monday, according to MSNBC’s Adam Klasfeld. “You’ll hear the defendant’s own voice, on tape, working out the intended agreement.”

Like adult film actress Stormy Daniels, McDougal was also victim to a catch-and-kill scheme by longtime Trump friend David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer and former CEO of its parent company, American Media Inc., to suppress stories of Trump’s extramarital affairs by purchasing the rights to the stories and then never allowing them to be published. On her end, McDougal was paid $150,000 by the publisher for her story.

“I need to open up a company,” Cohen can be heard saying on a copy of the two-minute tape, which was first released in 2018. “For the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David. I’m going to do that right away.”

“Give it to me,” Trump responded. “We’ll pay with cash.”

Trump is accused of using Cohen to sweep an affair with Daniels under the rug ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The trial is expected to last several weeks. He faces 34 felony charges in this case for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime. Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts.