Trump rails against Cohen call evidence at hush money trial

Former President Trump on Friday complained about a recording of a phone call between him and Michael Cohen played as evidence during his hush money trial.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said the tape, “while good for my case, was cut off at the end, in the early stages of something very positive that I was in the midst of saying. Why was it cut off???”

During Thursday’s proceedings, prosecutors played a recording made secretly by Cohen in September 2016 in which he is speaking with Trump about a deal with former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep quiet allegations that she had an affair with Trump roughly a decade before he was elected president. 

Trump is heard on the tape asking about how much the agreement is going to cost, asking “one-fifty?” —  apparently meaning $150,000.

There is also a brief exchange between Trump and Cohen over whether to pay by cash or check. Trump wants to pay cash, but Cohen demurs.

Doug Daus, a forensic analyst who has worked in the district attorney’s office for years, said Cohen’s recording was apparently cut off when he received an incoming phone call. On cross-examination from Trump’s lawyers, Daus acknowledged his forensic analysis didn’t turn up any actual record of that call, however.

Cohen is expected to testify for the prosecution during the trial. A former attorney for Trump, Cohen has become an outspoken critic of the former president. But Trump and his allies have argued Cohen is an unreliable witness.

Trump is charged in the New York case with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case is inherently salacious, as it centers on a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign, intended to keep her from going public with her story of an alleged affair with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.