Giuliani: Cohen tape is ‘powerful exculpatory evidence’

President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said Friday that a tape of Trump and his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen discussing a payment to a former Playboy model will exonerate Trump.

“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani told The New York Times of the taped conversation about the payment.

“In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” he added.

{mosads}

The tape, reportedly seized by the FBI during a raid of Cohen’s office earlier this year, features a conversation between Trump and Cohen two months before the 2016 election about making a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges she had an affair with Trump, according to The New York Times.

Cohen is reportedly under federal investigation over payments he made to women alleging affairs with Trump ahead of the 2016 election.

Giuliani told the Times that the payment was never made to McDougal, and that the recording lasted less than two minutes.

Cohen’s legal team said the tape would not hurt their client.

“Obviously, there is an ongoing investigation, and we are sensitive to that,” Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said in a statement. “But suffice it to say that when the recording is heard, it will not hurt Mr. Cohen. Any attempt at spin can not change what is on the tape.”

This story was updated at 5:33 p.m.