The conservative Drudge Report on Wednesday labeled Michael Cohen “the rat” after the release of a secretly recorded conversation between President Trump and his former personal attorney.
The banner headline on the website read “THE RAT” just hours after CNN aired a conversation between Trump and Cohen about buying the rights to a former Playboy model’s story about her alleged affair with Trump a decade ago.
CNN obtained the tape of the September 2016 conversation, which Cohen secretly recorded, from Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, who is a columnist for The Hill.
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The tape suggests that Trump was aware of American Media Inc.’s purchase of Karen McDougal’s story about their alleged affair, despite then-Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks saying in 2016 that “we have no knowledge of any of this.”
AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, never ran the story after purchasing the rights. McDougal sued over the agreement and the parties settled earlier this year.
The Drudge Report headline links to a Daily Mail story about Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning responding to the tape’s release.
“What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad!” the president tweeted.
The tape appears to be one of 12 recordings seized during a FBI raid on Cohen’s office and home earlier this year.