Federal prosecutors in Manhattan who are investigating President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, have received 12 audio “items” that had been seized by the F.B.I. but had been withheld from investigators, according to a court filing on Monday.
The materials, presumably audio recordings, were turned over to prosecutors on Friday after “the parties” withdrew claims that the items were subject to attorney-client privilege, the filing said.
The authorities have been investigating Mr. Cohen’s role in making hush-money payments to women in advance of the 2016 election, and whether any such action violated federal campaign finance laws.
Also on Friday, The New York Times reported that two months before the election Mr. Cohen had secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump, in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who had claimed she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
Under a process set up by a federal judge, items seized by the F.B.I. in searches of Mr. Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April have been undergoing a review by a court-appointed special master, Barbara S. Jones, to determine whether any of the materials were privileged and should not be given to the government.
The court filing on Monday does not specify the contents of the 12 audio items.
Lawyers for Mr. Cohen, President Trump and Mr. Trump’s private business, the Trump Organization, have been working with Ms. Jones to identify which materials they believe should be deemed privileged. Ms. Jones submitted the Monday court filing, which provided a brief update on her review.
“On July 20, 2018, the parties withdrew their designations of ‘privileged’ as to 12 audio items that were under consideration by the special master,” Ms. Jones wrote. “Based upon those de-designations, the special master released the 12 items to the government that day.”
The court filing does not specify which “parties” withdrew the privilege claims on the audio items, but one of Mr. Cohen’s lawyers, Lanny J. Davis, writing on Twitter on Monday, suggested that the decision to withdraw the privilege designation had come from President Trump.
“Latest news @MichaelCohen212 tapes of conversations are being released by @realDonaldTrump & his legal team who own and waived the privilege,” Mr. Davis wrote. “Will @RudyGiuliani call these tapes ‘exculpatory’ again?” he added. “As I noted before, the
tapes will speak for themselves — spin can’t change facts.”
Mr. Davis appears to have been referring to comments by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who confirmed in the recent Times report that Mr. Trump had discussed payments to Ms. McDougal on the recording.
According to the Times report, Mr. Giuliani described the recording as less than two minutes long, and said it gave no indication that Mr. Trump knew before the conversation about the payment to Ms. McDougal.
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Mr. Giuliani was quoted as saying.
Lawyers for Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment; the United States attorney’s office declined to comment. Ms. Jones’s filing said that her review was continuing.
Follow Benjamin Weiser on Twitter:@BenWeiserNYT.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: New Audio ‘Items’ Given to Prosecutors in Cohen Case. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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