Fox’s Judge Napolitano: Cohen-Trump Tape Shows Trump Was Engaging In ‘Civil Fraud’
While Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and pro-Trump media figures are downplaying the recently published tape that shows then-candidate Donald Trump and Michael Cohen discussing buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump, Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is letting the president know the tape may indeed cause him headaches down the road.
Appearing on America’s Newsroom Wednesday morning, Napolitano agreed with Giuliani’s assessment that the tape — which appears to reveal Cohen and Trump talking about arranging a payment to the National Enquirer over the ‘catch and kill’ story — does not show any indication of a crime. The judge, however, noted that the recording seems to indicate Trump was engaging in fraud.
“The significance of that is if the client and the lawyer discuss the commission of a crime or discuss the commission of a fraud there is no attorney/client privilege in that conversation,” Napolitano said. “Meaning the tape can be used by anybody who can get their hands on it for any purposes.”
The analyst told anchor Bill Hemmer that McDougal could use the tape if she were suing the president, noting that the conversation shows the “real aim here is to bury the story by duping her into selling it to them and then not publishing,” adding that the “failure to be truthful to her and the involvement of Donald Trump and Michael Cohen in that decision is the fraud.”
Napolitano explained how this was a situation of “civil fraud,” which was less severe than criminal fraud, but still destroyed the attorney/client privilege and thus blew apart much of Giuliani’s argument.
Hemmer went on to note that this tape is just one of twelve recordings that were seized by the feds when Cohen’s hotel room, home and officer were raided back in April, leading Napolitano to exclaim “God only knows what else is in there.”
When asked by the anchor whether the president has something to worry about here, Napolitano said “yes” and stated that since there is no attorney/client privilege protecting any of them, Special Counsel Robert Mueller will do whatever he wants with them.
Watch the clip above, via Fox News.
