Melania Trump came up with the idea to spin the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape as “locker room talk,” Donald Trump once claimed, according to his former fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday.
“We needed to put a spin on this, and the spin he wanted to put on it, was that this is locker room talk,” Cohen told jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court, referring to the 2005 tape in which Trump bragged on a hot mic about grabbing women by their genitals.
Cohen said Trump told him the angle was “something that Melania had recommended, or at least he told me that that’s what Melania had thought it was.”
Trump allegedly added to his then-“fixer” that they should “use” the excuse “in order to get control over the story and to minimize its impact on him and his campaign,” Cohen testified.
The content of the recording was “quite damaging,” Cohen added.
Jurors won’t be shown the “Access Hollywood” video recording at trial, as per Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling.
But during opening arguments, prosecutors read out Trump’s now-infamous words: “You can do anything — grab them by the p—y, you can do anything.”
The tape was leaked to the press just one month before the 2016 election on Oct. 7, and prosecutors have argued it was against that backdrop that suppressing claims Trump had extramarital affairs became all the more important for his campaign.
Trump’s lawyers will likely argue that the motivation for the real estate mogul allegedly directing Cohen to make the $130,000 hush money payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels was shielding Melania, rather than influencing the election outcome, as prosecutors have claimed.
Cohen, during direct questioning from prosecutors, claimed that Trump was trying to protect his election bid — not his wife.
The disbarred attorney testified he asked Trump how Melania would react to the tape, saying: “How are things gonna go upstairs?”
But Trump allegedly cavalierly responded, “Don’t worry; how long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.”‘
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign,” Cohen said of the exchange — at which point Trump, seated at the defense table, turned toward him and shook his head with a sly smile on his face.
Cohen claimed Trump wanted him to delay Daniels’ story from coming out until after the election.
“I want you to just push it out as long as you can, just get past the election,” Cohen claimed Trump said. “Because if I win, it will have no relevance because I’m president. And if I lose, I don’t even care.”
Prosecutors have charged Trump, 77, with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for allegedly falsely logging reimbursements to Cohen for the Daniels payoff as legal expenses.
They claim Trump tried to corrupt the election by covering up the payments that were meant to benefit his campaign, but which exceeded the legal limit an individual can contribute to a candidate.
Prosecutors also claim that he similarly had Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal paid $150,000 to keep her from coming forward about an alleged month-long affair with Trump, while he was married to Melania.
Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Cohen is slated to continue his testimony again Tuesday.