Donald Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly taped a discussion with him about payments to a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with the US president, and the tape is now in FBI hands, The New York Times reported on Friday.
The FBI seized the recording earlier this year during a raid on Cohen's office, the newspaper said in a bombshell revelation, quoting lawyers and others familiar with the recording.
Cohen, who no longer represents Trump, is being investigated over payments made to women to hush up embarrassing news stories about Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, confirmed the veracity of the recording, but added that the payment was never made, and said the Republican president had not been party to any wrongdoing.