US president Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer secretly recorded him discussing payments to an ex-Playboy model who said she had had an affair with him, according to reports.
The New York Times said the FBI seized the recording during an April raid on attorney Michael Cohen’s office.
The newspaper cited lawyers and others familiar with the recording and reported that Mr Cohen made the tape two months before the 2016 election.
The former model, Karen McDougal, says she began a nearly year-long affair with Mr Trump in 2006, shortly after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron.
Ms McDougal sold her story to the National Enquirer for $150,000 during the final months of the presidential campaign, but the tabloid sat on the story, which kept it from becoming public. The practice, known as “catch and kill,” effectively silenced McDougal for the remainder of the campaign.
Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump's personal lawyer, confirmed in a telephone conversation Friday that the president had discussed the payments with Mr Cohen on the tape but said the payment was ultimately never made.
He said the recording was less than two minutes and demonstrated that the president had done nothing wrong.
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Mr Giuliani said, adding that Mr Trump had directed his laywer that if he were to make a payment related to the woman, that he should write a cheque, rather than sending cash, so it could be properly documented.
“In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” Mr Giuliani said.
Mr Cohen’s lawyers discovered the recording as part of their review of the seized materials and shared it with Mr Trump’s lawyers, according to three people briefed on the matter.
"We have nothing to say on this matter," Mr Cohen's lawyer, Lanny J Davis, said when asked about the tape.
David J Pecker, chairman of the Enquirer's parent company, is a friend of Mr Trump's, and Ms McDougal has accused Mr Cohen of secretly taking part in the deal - an allegation that is now part of the FBI investigation.
When the Wall Street Journal revealed the existence of the payment days before the election, Mr Trump’s campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said, “We have no knowledge of any of this.”
She said Ms McDougal’s claim of an affair was “totally untrue.”