The Latest: Trump says lawyer taping him may be ‘illegal’

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – The Latest on President Donald Trump and his onetime personal attorney (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

Donald Trump says he finds it “inconceivable” that a lawyer would tape a client, as the president weighed in on a report of a taped conversation. In the weeks before the 2016 election, his then-personal attorney secretly recorded their discussion about a potential payment for a former Playboy model’s account of having an affair with Trump.

The recording was part of a large collection of documents and electronic records seized by earlier this year by federal authorities from Michael Cohen, the longtime Trump fixer.

In a tweet Saturday, Trump called such taping “totally unheard of & perhaps illegal.” He also asserted, without elaborating, in post: “The good news is that your favourite President did nothing wrong!”

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2:45 p.m.

Attorney Michael Cohen’s recording of a conversation with President Donald Trump about a payment to a Playboy model adds to questions about whether Trump tried to quash damaging stories before the election. Trump’s campaign had said it knew nothing about any payment to ex-centerfold Karen McDougal. It could also further entangle the president in a criminal investigation that for months has targeted Cohen.

The erstwhile Trump loyalist has hired a new attorney, Clinton White House veteran Lanny Davis, and disassociated himself from the president as both remain under investigation. Cohen has not been charged with a crime.

Current Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the payment was never made and the brief recording shows Trump did nothing wrong.