Donald Trump Tapes: Listen to Trump Discuss Secret Payouts to Karen McDougal!

As we reported days ago, Donald Trump was caught on tape discussing payouts related to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, with whom he allegedly had an affair.

Now, CNN has obtained one of the dozen tapes that were seized by prosecutors from the office of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

It might not be a "smoking gun" for collusion, but … many believe that it may be evidence that campaign finance laws were violated.

In September of 2016, just months before that fateful election night, Trump met with Michael Cohen, who recorded their conversation.

"The recording offers the public a glimpse at the confidential discussions between Trump and Cohen," CNN says.

CNN continues, saying that based upon their analysis, "it confirms the man who now occupies the Oval Office had contemporaneous knowledge of a proposal to buy the rights to the story of Karen McDougal."

CNN goes on to describe how McDougal is "a woman who has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump about a decade ago."

The reason for which this is a big deal is that Trump paying to silence someone, directly or indirectly, may be an election law violation.

Trump can be heard saying: "I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David."

David Pecker is the head of American Media, which controls the National Enquirer, the entity that purchased and then buried Karen McDougal"s story.

Now, not all of the discussion is relevant to payouts to Karen McDougal. But when financing comes up again later, Trump refers to it.

Cohen can be heard saying: "When it comes time for the financing, which will be …"

"What financing?" Trump asks, interrupting Cohen.

"We"ll have to pay," Cohen is heard explaining.

Here is where the low quality of the recording makes things tricky.

It sounds like Trump is saying "pay with cash," but some have argued that he is saying "don"t pay with cash."

Cohen argues, saying "no, no," but it is difficult to tell exactly what is said next.

Based upon everyone"s analysis, it sounds like Trump is either saying "Pay with cash" or "Don"t pay with cash."

It looks like there is going to be some debate over what exactly he said.

It was Cohen"s attorney Lanny Davis who provided the recording to CNN.

Cohen was Trump"s attorney for a long time and previously stated that he would take a bullet for Trump.

However, in recent weeks, he has stated that he would like to put his country first and cooperate with prosecutors.

This has left Trump deeply unsettled, resulting in some of his infamous Twitter ravings.

"Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning)," Trump wrote on Twitter on July 21.

"Almost unheard of," Trump claims. "Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal."

"The good news," Trump continues. "Is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!" 

Let"s say that further analysis of this tape proves, conclusively, that Donald Trump broke our election laws by making payouts to keep McDougal silent.

What now?

Obviously, Melania is once again embarrassed, but after her "I don"t really care, do u?" stunt, few in the public really care about her feelings any more than her husband does.

Ultimately, it is the job of Congress to impeach and then convict a sitting President. It is believed that no one else can do that.

Unfortunately, many within the GOP — though personally unhappy with Trump — are unwilling to take the necessary steps towards impeachment for two reasons.

One, because they are happy to have him appoint idealogues to the Supreme Court and other positions. In other words, their interests align with his.

Two, because they fear that moving against him will cost them reelection.

After everything that he"s already done, from praising Nazis as "good people" to the Helsinki summit, it is difficult to imagine what, if anything, would prompt Republicans in the legislature to take action.

But … all of this evidence could all be valuable ammunition if the fabled "Blue Wave" for which so many Americans hope actually happens this November.

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Donald Trump: CAUGHT on Tape Discussing Secret Payouts to Playboy Model

If you need to do a whole bunch of shady, sleazebag stuff, you need a shady, sleazebag attorney to handle it. The only problem is that, well, your lawyer is a shady sleazebag.

On Friday, the world learned that Michael Cohen had apparently recorded Donald Trump discussing payouts to cover up his alleged affair with a former Playboy model.

Those recordings may be evidence that Trump violated campaign finance laws in the 2016 election.

Being a woman who goes public with her story of having had sex with Donald Trump can get you stalked, harassed, and threatened.

Recently, it even got Stormy Daniels arrested in a transparent sting operation that many believed was designed as part of a harassment campaign against her.

In this case, we’re talking about former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

It has now come to light that, just months before the 2016 election, Trump spoke to his attorney, Michael D Cohen, about payments made to McDougal to ensure her silence.

According to The New York Times, Cohen recorded his conversation with Trump … and the F.B.I. now has those tapes.

According to lawyers and others familiar with the tapes, the F.B.I. acquired these recordings earlier in the year.

Remember their big raid on Michael Cohen’s office? That’s when they got their hands on them.

The Justice Department is invesigating Cohen over payments to women in order to bury embarrassing stories about Trump during his Presidential campaign.

If so, it is believed that this was a violation of campaign finance law.

The Trump campaign has insisted that it had no knowledge of any such payments. Considering the amounts of money exchanged, some find this hard to believe.

Karen McDougal says that her affair with Donald Trump spanned for nearly a year, beginning in 2006.

It apparently began a short time after Trump’s current (and then, new) wife, Melania Trump, gave birth to his youngest child, Barron.

During the final months of the 2016 Presidential campaign, McDougal sold her story for $ 150,000.

Unfortunately, she sold it to The National Enquirer, a tabloid whose owner is friendly towards Trump.

After purchasing her story, the tabloid declined to publish it. This is known as the “catch and kill” method for handling scandals.

Rudy Giuliani took a break from claiming that porn stars are worthless as human beings to confirm to The New York Times that the recordings do include Trump and Cohen discussing these payments.

He says that the recordings are about two minutes long.

Giuliani claims that Trump did not know that he was being recorded … which is what most people had figured, anyway.

However, Giuliani also claims that Trump did nothing wrong. He says that Trump was discussing a totally separate deal to buy McDougal’s story.

Giuliani says that Trump considered buying McDougal’s story from the Enquirer, which would have effectively reimbursed the tabloid for buying McDougal’s unwitting silence, but that the payment was never made.

Cohen is being intensely scrutinized under suspicion of a lot of things for his work on behalf of Donald Trump.

Though he was a firm loyalist for Trump (and Sean Hannity, his other client), Cohen has recently been changing his tune, and said that he will put his family and country first.

Some are skeptical, however, and think that if Cohen is really willing to put his country first, he should tell the Justice Department everything that he knows about Trump’s illegal dealings immediately.

Others are unsure of his credibility, but are inclined to listen to evidence such an an audio recording.

Some suggest that this revelation about Trump discussing payouts to McDougal might lead to his downfall. It might seem unimportant compared to Trump kissing Putin’s ass in what many consider to be an act of treason.

But breaking election laws is still serious. It matters.

View Slideshow: Donald Trump Impeachment Party: Who’s Attending?

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