Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Friday that President Donald Trump did not know he was secretly taped by ex-lawyer Michael Cohen as they discussed a possible payment to an ex-Playboy model over an alleged affair, according to news reports.
CNN reported Friday that Giuliani, now a member of Trump's personal legal team, said Trump learned earlier this week of the tape, which was first disclosed by The New York Times.
Giuliani told the cable network that telephone conversation was recorded in September 2016 at Trump Tower, where Trump's campaign offices were located.
CNN also reported that "a source familiar with the tape" said Trump responded to its existence by saying: "I can't believe Michael would do this to me."
The Times, citing "lawyers and others familiar with the recording," disclosed that Cohen secretly recorded their conversation about the payment to the former model, Karen McDougal.
The recording was seized when the FBI raided Cohen's home, office and hotel room in April. Agents acted on search warrants based in part on evidence from Russia special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators.
The White House has consistently said that Trump denied the affair.
Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, declined to comment to the Times.
Giuliani, however, confirmed that the discussion between Trump and Cohen occurred — saying that they talked fewer than two minutes and the tape proved the president had done nothing wrong.
"Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance," Giuliani told the Times.
He added that Trump had directed Cohen that if he were to make any payment, write a check, versus sending cash, so it could be documented.
"In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence," Giuliani said.
McDougal has alleged that she began a yearlong affair with Trump in 2006.
She was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of The National Enquirer under an agreement that gave it the exclusive rights to her story, which it never published.
Cohen said he paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about her claim of the affair.
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