Avenatti Says ‘Trump Tapes’ Exist

Michael Avenatti, the outspoken lawyer who represents adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her suit against President Trump, says there are audio recordings of Trump’s conversations with his embattled personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Comparing the recordings to the infamous “Nixon tapes” that sealed President Richard Nixon’s political fate, Avenatti charges that the recordings might show a conspiracy “to commit one or more potential crimes.”

Avenatti made his assertion Wednesday on the left-leaning cable channel MSNBC. He represents Daniels in a case concerning the actress’ alleged 2006 affair with Trump and hush money that Cohen allegedly paid to silence her shortly before the 2016 election.

Avenatti has proved to be a virtual match for the president in hogging the media limelight. Earlier in the day, he withdrew a request to enter the criminal case against Cohen, in which he had sought a role in order to protect Daniels’ interests. He retracted the request after a federal judge warned him to end the “publicity tour” that has made him a recent fixture on cable TV news.

It previously has been reported that Cohen was in the habit of recording his phone conversations.

The Washington Post’s Philip Bump gives the background to this story and offers a skeptical assessment of Avenatti’s latest bombshell. But keep an open mind: Avenatti has been out ahead of the mainstream media for some time now in correctly predicting important developments in the Trump-Daniels case.