Michael Cohen Enraged By Tucker Carlson Audio Leak: I Did Not Give This Recording or Authorization For Its Use to Fox News or Anyone

Last week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said a tape-recorded conversation between CNN host Chris Cuomo and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen reveals a different side to the network host and that he intended to share the details of the tape at some point between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4.

Carlson released the clip last night of Cuomo dismissing allegations he sexually harassed women while working at ABC during a conversation with Cohen. He also said that he has more recordings and he told Cuomo as much last night.

Michael Cohen, a former attorney for President Trump, was outraged by the disclosure.

The only people in possession of these recordings are me, @DOJ, @POTUS & Trump Org. He claimed, “the only people in possession of these recordings are me, DOJ, POTUS & Trump Org. I did not give this recording or authorization for its use to Fox News or anyone. POTUS and cronies violated my First amendment rights and now this; all to discredit me and my book. What’s next?”

The only people in possession of these recordings are me, @DOJ, @POTUS & Trump Org. I did not give this recording or authorization for its use to @FoxNews or anyone. @POTUS and cronies violated my First amendment rights and now this; all to discredit me and my book. What’s next? pic.twitter.com/ajgmpE9ZoF

— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) September 2, 2020

From the Washington Examiner:

Carlson said his team sent a copy of the tape and a list of questions about the recording to CNN’s head of strategic communications, Matt Dornic, and “that kid who’s got the media show on the weekends,” an apparent reference to CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.

Carlson said on Tuesday that neither of them responded.

In July 2018, Cuomo played on his show, Cuomo Prime Time, a recorded conversation between Trump and Cohen about buying the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump.

The Wall Street Journal reported a day later that federal investigators obtained 12 tapes belonging to Cohen, including a conversation with Cuomo that was nearly two hours long. The report narrowly focused on how Cohen talked about arranging a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about the affair she claims to have had with Trump in 2006. “I did it on my own,” Cohen said in regard to the payment.

Trump has denied both those relationships.

Rudy Giuliani, who became Trump’s personal attorney during the Russia investigation, appeared on Cuomo’s show a couple of days later, praising the host for how he conducted himself during his chat with Cohen recorded on tape. The former New York City mayor said he could make the judgment because he read the transcript.

“You did exactly the right thing. In fact, Chris, thank you for doing it because you questioned him the way a lawyer would question him, and you got everything out of him,” Giuliani said. “I couldn’t have done a better job of getting him to corroborate my client’s statement than you did. And he did it three or four times.”

Cuomo said he wouldn’t talk about the contents of the tape during interviews with both Giuliani and former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, insisting he remained bound by an off-the-record agreement. Giuliani argued that Cuomo was released from the off-the-record agreement because of Cohen’s actions. “He put it on the record by taping the darn thing surreptitiously, by lying to you,” Giuliani said.

Still, Cuomo refused, insisting it was a matter of journalistic integrity. “Because somebody else does the wrong thing, doesn’t mean I’m going to do the same thing,” he said.

Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in federal prison in December 2018, is serving the rest of his three-year sentence on home confinement after he was briefly sent back to prison in July following his original release in May due to concerns related to the coronavirus. He plans to release a memoir next month about working for Trump, titled Disloyal, and is expected to participate in an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.