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Melania's Response To Michael Cohen's Trump Tapes Discussing Paying Off A Playboy Model Is Brief
Bustle ^ | July 20, 2018 | Seth Millstein

Posted on 07/23/2018 9:56:00 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

On Friday, first lady Melania Trump responded to Michael Cohen's "Trump tapes," the existence of which was reported earlier in the day. The New York Times reported that Cohen, Donald Trump's former attorney, secretly recorded a conversation wherein the two discussed making payments to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claims to have an affair with Trump. In a statement Friday, however, Melania refused to address the reports, and made clear that she won't be doing so at any point in the future.

"Mrs. Trump remains focused on her role as a mother and as First Lady of the United States," Melania's communications director Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. "We will have no further comment on the topic."

A White House spokesperson told ABC News that "the president says he never had a relationship with McDougal."

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor now representing the president, confirmed the existence of the tapes after the Times report. Giuliani said that no payment to McDougal was ever made, however, and characterized the tapes as "powerful exculpatory evidence." According to the Times, the tapes are now in the possession of the FBI, which raided Cohen's office earlier in the year.

(TWEET-AT-LINK)

McDougal's claim that she had an affair with Donald was first reported before the election. However, the revelation that Cohen and Donald discussed paying McDougal two months before the 2016 election raises questions about how much Donald's team knew about her allegations, and when.

Days before the election, the Wall Street Journal reported that McDougal claimed to have had a nine-month affair with Donald, and that the National Enquirer paid her $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story. But the tabloid never published her account, and McDougal later confirmed to the New Yorker that she signed a confidentiality agreement with the Enquirer's parent company — the chairman of which is a close friend of Donald — banning her from speaking publicly about the alleged affair.

After the Journal story was published in November 2016, Donald's former top aide Hope Hicks said in a statement that "we have no knowledge of any of this." However, Giuliani confirmed Friday that two months earlier, Donald and Cohen had discussed reimbursing the Enquirer for its payment to McDougal — which of course, they couldn't have done if Donald's team had "no knowledge" of McDougal's dealings with the Enquirer.

(TWEET-AT-LINK)

In a statement to the Daily Beast, Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis said that "when the recording you are reading about is heard, it will not hurt Mr. Cohen." Davis added that "any attempt to spin this story cannot change what is on the tape," which one source told the Beast is likely a reference to Giuliani's claim that the tape is "exculpatory."


TOPICS: New York; Campaign News; Issues
KEYWORDS: cohen; enquirer; melania; michaelcohentapes; trump
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To: outpostinmass2
This one did, and I could have filed suit, but didn't. I agree entirely though that attorney-client privilege is incredibly important. Otherwise, what would keep any attorney (say, OJ’s attorney) from taping everything a client says, and selling the info to tabloids or the highest bidder? Attorney's who deceive their clients should be disbarred, at the least.
41 posted on 07/23/2018 11:45:23 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: metmom
And Bill Clinton is a rapist who raped while in office. And that wasn’t an issue for anyone back then.

Clinton was raping and sexually assaulting women as far back as his time as Arkansas governor. Nobody made a big deal about it and those who did were shut down. Women LOVED Bill Clinton as president. They ignored his sex crimes. It was disgusting. The irony is that his treason and lies should have kicked him out of office not "sexual relations". We were played by the left.

42 posted on 07/23/2018 12:36:40 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: conservative98
Michael Cohen is fake for plenty of other reasons. He went to Cooley. That can barely be called a law school.

As to Cooley Law School, your opinion is widely held.

43 posted on 07/23/2018 1:13:59 PM PDT by WASCWatch
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Giuliani’s claim that the tape is exculpatory.

Case closed.


44 posted on 07/23/2018 1:29:22 PM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Williams

One reason, in general, people do not trust attorneys. We know a couple who are honest, but generally, attorneys have a bad name.......not trustworthy.


45 posted on 07/23/2018 2:12:34 PM PDT by tillacum (I'm still a Deplorable and I COLLUDED during the election SO THE DONALD could WIN! I voted.)
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To: rlmorel

Seems crooked to me and like a setup for extortion.

If I had the kind of money Trump has I think I’d be setting up for a lawsuit and somebody would be losing a law license. ‘Course, no telling what Coen has on Trump.

Still think I’d be getting ready for some lawyer stew to feed the hogs.


46 posted on 07/23/2018 3:15:54 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
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To: thoughtomator
That the Left has been deliberately trying to destroy the Trumps’ marriage

I think their main goal is/has been to take down Pres. Trump by any means possible. Destroying his marriage is just icing on the cake to them.

47 posted on 07/23/2018 3:19:09 PM PDT by ELS
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To: Sequoyah101

I think you are right. Trumps plan probably isn’t “I’ll just sit back and let them walk all over me.”

One of the things that I like about Trump is that he doesn’t feel the need to stay above the fray to “protect the dignity of the Office of The Presidency” because I think he understands full well our country is in a critical stage right now.

And America needs someone who will fight for it.


48 posted on 07/23/2018 5:04:17 PM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: KC_Lion

Lovely gown, except for the color.


49 posted on 07/23/2018 5:15:49 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Fill in my standard rant.)
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To: KC_Lion
Alternative title:

The first lady looked at Hillary and lost.

Melania won.

Alternative Title 2:

Why women look better with long hair, part 2,356,911,458.

50 posted on 07/23/2018 9:55:14 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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