Attorney Michael Cohen allegedly said in a recorded conversation that evaangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. allegedly asked him to prevent personal "racy" photos from leaking before [Falwell Jr.] endorsing then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Comedian Tom Arnold allegedly recorded a conversation between himself and Cohen in secret March 25, in which Cohen had told him Falwell had asked Cohen had asked for help in dealing with personal photographs, Reuters reported.
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“I actually have one of the photos,” Cohen allegedly told Arnold. “It’s terrible.”
Falwell, who is the president of Liberty University, allegedly told Cohen in 2015 the photos were of a personal nature usually kept between “husband and wife,” according to Reuters. Cohen was previously Trump’s personal lawyer.
The person who possessed the photos allegedly destroyed them after Cohen intervened on Falwell’s behalf.
A source “familiar with Cohen’s thinking” said Cohen then helped Falwell issue his endorsement of Trump immediately before the Iowa caucuses, Reuters reported, and that Falwell’s endorsement of Trump and Cohen’s alleged assistance with the photos were unrelated.
Cohen began serving his three-year prison sentence Monday for tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations over hush payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Trump in 2006.
Falwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.