Fox News host Sean Hannity called the secret recording of President Donald Trump and former lawyer Michael Cohen aired on CNN Tuesday night “a dud.”
“I’m a little surprised at a recording of a client, that surprises me, but with that said I listened to all of this,” Hannity said while hosting, “Fox News Live.”
“I’m listening to something that never happened. … They were just saying, ‘I don’t want the divorce to come,’ and then they talk about pay cash or check, it’s muffled. I don’t see anything here. I see a dud.”
The audio CNN aired included Trump and Cohen discussing arrangements related to the payment to former playmate Karen McDougal ahead of the 2016 presidential election. McDougal alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump about a decade ago.
"I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” Cohen told Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election, likely a reference to American Media CEO and chairman David Pecker.
McDougal was silenced by Pecker, who bought her story for National Enquirer and then reportedly spiked it.
Trump interrupts Cohen, asking, “What financing?”
Cohen tells Trump, “We’ll have to pay,” and then is heard saying “pay with cash.”
But the audio isn’t clear on whether Trump meant to pay with cash or not pay with cash.
Cohen says, “no, no,” but it’s unclear what is said next.
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett agreed, and called the tape a “red herring to smear the president” on “personal matters.”
Hannity also said the news media would hate Trump even if he “cured cancer and gave every American 10 million dollars, I am convinced the media would still hate him. Even if he adopted their full agenda, he would hate them.”
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