FBI Has Secret Recording of Trump and His Lawyer

Michael Cohen — Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer and business associate, who’s now under federal investigation and reportedly thinking about striking a plea deal with prosecutors — doesn’t mince words.

“I’m the guy who protects the president and the family. I’m the guy who would take a bulletfor the president.”

“If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like, I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit. If you do something wrong, I’m going to come at you, grab you by the neck, and I’m not going to let you go until I’m finished.”

“I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”

Cohen is not a typical lawyer. He’s not even just someone who sent $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels. He’s a man who’s made profane and violent threats to protect Donald Trump, and has called himself Trump’s “fix-it guy.”

But he’s much more than that. For nearly a decade, Cohen worked as a high-level executive in the Trump Organization. In that time, he pursued business deals in the former Soviet Union and even tried to get a Trump Tower Moscow built during the presidential campaign.

Cohen is also a wealthy investor in his own right, with taxi medallion holdings and aneyebrow-raising real estate portfolio. He has family and past financial ties to Ukrainian businesses. He’s the national deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee. And since last year, he’s been legally representing Trump personally.

Now Cohen is a guy who appears to be in very serious legal trouble of his own. The Justice Department and FBI made the incredibly unusual move in April of seizing documents from him even though he’s a lawyer — the president’s lawyer!

FBI Has Secret Recording of Trump and His Lawyer Discussing Payment to Former Playboy Model

The Justice Department is investigating a taped conversation between President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, discussing a potential payment to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump, The New York Times reports. The F.B.I reportedly seized the recording — which Cohen secretly made two months before the presidential election — during its raid of Cohen’s office and hotel roomin April, the Times reports.

Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Guiliani, told the Times that Trump did discuss the payments with Cohen but the payment was never made. According to Guiliani, the tape is two minutes long.

The former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, says her affair with the president began around the time Melania Trump gave birth to first son Barron and lasted for almost a year. McDougal sold her rights to the story to The National Enquirer for $150,000 as the presidential campaign ramped up. The tabloid, run by Trump’s friend David Pecker, never published the story.

Inaccessible Island, a remotely located extinct volcanic island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, is so named for the difficulty in landing on the island and penetrating its interior because of the rough terrain.

Death Valley, California, one of the hottest locations on Earth, got its English name after 13 pioneers died trying to cross the harsh desert valley during the California Gold Rush of 1849. The highest recorded land temperature, 134 °F (56.7 °C), was recorded inside Death Valley at Furnace Creek, California in 1913.

Fiddletown, California was a Chinese gold mining settlement and was home to about 235 people according to 2010 census. When the creek went dry the miners were said to be “fiddling around” thus giving the name. One local civilian successfully lobbied to change the name to Oleta, given after his daughter in 1878 because he was embarrassed to be known as the “Man from Fiddletown.” After his death in 1932, the name was restored. Similarly, Gardendale, Alabama was originally named "Jugtown" due to the jug and churn factory around which the town originally grew. Hettie Thomason Cargo, a local school teacher, proposed the name change in 1906 after being embarrassed to admit she was from "Jugtown" at a regional teachers meeting. The town voted to rename itself Gardendale; unlike Oleta, the name stuck.

Quibbletown, New Jersey, also known as New Market, is an unincorporated settlement within the township of Piscataway. The name of the settlement originated with a dispute as to whether the Sabbath was on Saturday or Sunday.

Rough and Ready, California is on the National List of Historic Places. It gets its name from the founder of the town, an Army Captain with Zachary Taylor in his company. Taylor was nicknamed "Rough and Ready" and was later elected president of the United States