Giuliani on FOX News: Everything released so far shows Trump is 'absolutely innocent'

Emily Birnbaum
The HIll
Mon, 30 Jul 2018 16:34 UTC

Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen

President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani on Monday said the tapes released by Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen show Trump is "absolutely innocent."

"Everything that's been released so far shows the president to be absolutely innocent," Giuliani said on Fox's Fox and Friends.

"He didn't do anything wrong," he continued. "The last two tapes are evidence in his favor."

Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis last week released a tape to CNN that features Cohen and the president discussing the possibility of purchasing the story of a former Playboy model who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Davis also is a columnist for The Hill.

Cohen can be heard on the tape urging Trump to buy the rights to Karen McDougal's story, which was purchased by American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer. The Enquirer, however, never ran the story.

Though the recording is muddled, Trump appears to ask if they should pay "in cash" and Cohen responds "no, no, no." Giulaini has claimed that Trump is saying they should not pay in cash, and should instead pay with a check.

The conversation between Cohen and Trump, which Cohen recorded secretly, took place during the presidential campaign.

Giuliani has referred to the tape as "powerful exculpatory evidence."

"He wants to do a transaction by check, wants to do it as a corporate transaction, perfectly legal," Giuliani said on Fox.

Reports emerged this week that Cohen also recorded a phone call with CNN's Chris Cuomo about the nondisclosure agreement he arranged with adult-film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump.

Cohen has admitted to paying Daniels $130,000, which Giuliani said Trump reimbursed him for.

Giuliani said on Monday that the second tape also proves Trump's innocence.

Giuliani on Sunday told CBS's Face the Nation that Trump's legal team is aware of 183 separate conversations that Cohen recorded. Of those, he said Trump is "discussed at any length" on 11 or 12, and is only recorded on one tape.

Comment: More on the Cohen tapes:

Rudy Giuliani dropped a bombshell on Saturday evening, saying some experts believe that someone may have "messed with" the secret audio recordings from Michael Cohen, who previously served as President Donald Trump's personal lawyer.

During an interview on Fox News Saturday, Giuliani, the president's lead attorney, said experts believe the Cohen tape obtained by CNN last week could have been doctored. He also said that he believes Cohen has 183 total secret recordings, and that the president "only speaks" on one of the tapes.

Giuliani said experts and "retired FBI agents" who have listened to the recordings believe someone could have "played" with the contents, and that the recording that was aired on CNN's Chris Cuomo's show last week is a "tape of a tape."

"Now that we've seen the full scope of Cohen and Lanny Davis' deception, we don't trust anything. Since we don't have the original, we asked for it. Our expert analysis is done until we get the raw copy, which we are seeking."

Giuliani also declared that the president's legal team is working on getting the original recording to determine whether the tape had been cut, edited, or altered in any way.

Watch below:

Giuliani also repeated the bombshell assertion on CBS' Face The Nation, telling host John Dickerson that Trump's team is aware of "something like 183 recordings," adding that one features Cohen speaking to the president about paying Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to a story, and "11 or 12 others" feature Cohen speaking with the media about his interactions with Trump.

"We know of something like 183 unique conversations on tape. One of those is with the president of the United States. That's the three-minute one involving the McDougal payment, AMI-McDougal payment. There are 12 others, maybe 11 or 12 others out of the 183, in which the president is discussed at any length by Cohen, mostly with reporters."

Last week, Cohen's legal team provided CNN with a secret audio recording between Trump and Cohen that was reportedly taped in 2016.

The recording reveals that Trump and Cohen appear to be discussing plans to acquire the rights to a story about an alleged affair Trump had with former Playboy model Karen McDougal more than a decade ago.

Trump has denied the affair, and Giuliani said CNN used a selectively edited clip that does not show the full conversation.

Giuliani said CNN didn't air part of the tape that shows Trump was asking Cohen how to do the payment legally, and he even provided CNN with a full transcript of the tape showing Trump was ordering Cohen to abide by the law.

Listen to the audio below:

The tape was seized a few months ago when the FBI raided Cohen's home, hotel, and office amid an investigation into whether any laws were broken by the Trump campaign during the election with alleged payments to McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Cohen is already under heavy fire for recording conversations of his client (Trump) and then leaking them to the media. And if those tapes were doctored or edited in any way, that could have serious legal implications.