Was it legal for Michael Cohen to secretly tape Trump?
NEW YORK -- President Trump blasted his former attorney Michael Cohen on Twitter for secretly recording a conversation the two had shortly before the presidential election, about a possible payment to a former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Mr. Trump. But the recording is legal, according to New York law.
On Twitter Saturday, Mr. Trump said it was "inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client -- totally unheard of and perhaps illegal."
Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2018
"It is not illegal if you are in a one-party consent state and what that means is if there are two parties to a conversation, only one needs to know about recording the conversation so it's not illegal, however there may be a question of ethics here," said CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman.
The recording was seized in FBI raids on Cohen's home and office in April as part of an investigation into Cohen's business dealings.
Klieman says while it's rare for an attorney to tape a conversation with a client, it's still unclear if Cohen was acting in his capacity as a lawyer when the conversation was recorded.
"There were vast amounts, in fact hundreds of thousands of documents that were seized from Michael Cohen's offices and home and hotel," Klieman said. "Of these, the special master reviewed the hundreds of thousands and only a small percentage of them was considered privilege. We don't even know if this conversation with then candidate Trump and Michael Cohen was in the privilege pile or the non-privilege pile."
Cohen has been under immense pressure to cooperate with federal investigators as Mueller's probe continues, CBS News' Jeff Pegues has reported.