A court document made public on Friday shows that prosecutors in New York informed Donald Trump’s attorneys that they had evidence against him in the hush-money case, including an audio recording between the former president and a witness.
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office disclosed the information in a document this week referred to as an automatic discovery form. It said that the evidence was already shared with Trump’s lawyers.
The filing doesn’t identify the witness, nor does it say when the recording occurred or when Trump’s lawyers became aware of the recording. NBC News reached out to Trump’s attorneys and spokesperson for a comment.
Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer and key witness, released an audio recording that was secretly recorded of a conversation he had in 2016 with Trump regarding the hush-money payments. The court filing does not specify if the recording that was referred to is the one that Cohen’s lawyer released.
The filing dates from this past Tuesday, the same day that Trump appeared virtually before Manhattan criminal court in order to be formally notified of a protective measure barring him from publicly speaking about evidence his attorneys were slated to get from the DA’s office.
has pleaded not-guilty. Trump was accused of 34 counts of falsifying records in his business last month. The charges relate to hush payments made to adult movie star Stormy Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal towards the end of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in order to keep them quiet about their claims of having affairs with him.
Trump denies having had affairs with both women.
The two can be heard talking about how to pay McDougal in the September 2016 recording between Trump and Cohen. Trump asks “what financing?” at one point and appears to ask, “Pay with cash?”
Cohen replies, “No, No, No, No, I Got …”” before Trump is heard saying “check.”
The filing stated that several other recordings, which do not directly involve Trump, will be handed over to his defence team. These include phone conversations between unidentified witnesses, “a phone conversation between a witness and third party,” and “various recordings stored on a cell phone of a witness.”
The evidence also includes unidentified quotes from books written by or about the former president. These include books by Cohen, Daniels and former U.S. attorney general William Barr. Also included are books by Jared Kushner, a former Trump adviser who is now Trump’s son-in law, and five books of Trump himself.
The case is due to be tried by the 25th of March 2024.
