They don’t want to talk about it…
Republican lawmakers are in no hurry to talk about the recordings in which Donald Trump and his attorney appear to discuss buying the silence of a former Playboy model who claims that she had an affair with Trump. Those recordings were obtained by CNN and first aired on Tuesday night.
In the tapes, Trump attorney Michael Cohen discusses how he plans to set up a company to buy the story that model Karen McDougal sold to American Media, essentially buying McDougal’s silence. Though the tapes are poor quality, Trump’s voice is clearly heard on the recordings.
Unsurprisingly, Republicans on Capitol Hill aren’t eager to address the tapes. When CNN’s Manu Raju approached GOP Senators, they either offered a simple “no comment” or brushed past the reporter.
GOP senators really have no desire to talk about Trump on tape discussing with Michael Cohen a scheme to silence a story about his alleged affair with a Playboy model. WATCH: https://t.co/p73DUoyJY7
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 25,2018
CNN aired a clip of the Raju’s encounters with the Republican lawmakers. In the beginning of the segment, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who is usually a vocal Trump loyalist, declined to comment.
Raju also asked Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) about the recordings and Flake shied away from the conversation. When asked if he believes the White House should explain the content of the recordings, Flake answered, “that’s up to them. We have enough to worry about with tariffs and everything else.”
President Trump has denied that he had affairs with the women who have said they slept with him in the years after he married Melania. The report that McDougal sold her story to American Media — the company that publishes the National Enquirer — first became public in the days before the 2016 election in a Wall Street Journal piece.
Alex is a Washington DC based contributor. He is from Delaware and holds a degree in English from Salisbury University. Find him on Twitter @AlexThoma… more
