Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, is contending that she was coerced and threatened into signing a non-disclosure agreement about her affair with Donald Trump just days before the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, has long been known to make legal threats, angrily belittling those who he deemed a threat to his client. Now NPR has released audio of Michael Cohen’s threatening phone call to Tim Mak, a current NPR reporter who was working forThe Daily Beast in 2015, while he was working on the following story. From Mak at NPR:
I started writing about a 1993 biography of Trump written by former Newsweek reporter Harry Hurt, III. According to the book, The Lost Tycoon, Trump's first wife Ivana claimed in a sworn deposition during her divorce proceedings that Donald Trump raped her.
As the book was coming out, she said she didn't mean rape in a criminal or literal sense, and has since praised the president. Trump has called the claim false.
When I reached out to campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks about the claim in the book, I got an angry call from Cohen in return.
As you hear the audio, listen to Cohen initially claim that Donald Trump could not possibly have raped his former wife, because it is not possible for rape to occur between spouses. Really. Cohen then dialed up the threats a notch:
"So I'm warning you, tread very f***ing lightly because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f***ing disgusting. Do you understand me? Don't think you can hide behind your pen because it's not going to happen." Cohen said. "I'm more than happy to discuss it with your attorney and with your legal counsel because motherf***** you're going to need it."
Take a listen to the call by clicking on the link below.
Michael Cohen has been widely known to record conversations and those recordings are now in the hands of the FBI and prosecutors. Michael Avenatti says he is certain Donald Trump is also on those recordings.
All told, these recordings are likely to be embarrassing for everyone involved, most especially Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. If they see the light of day, how long can Republicans stand by their man? Time will tell. Step one is getting the tapes released. And Avenatti is promising he won’t stop until they are.
