New Yawk Law: President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen secretly taped a telephone conversation two months before the 2016 election in which the two men talked about a payment involving a former Playboy model with whom Trump had an affair.

You have to wonder. If there is one recording, are there more?

The FBI seized the recording earlier this year during a raid on Cohen’s office. Investigators are inquiring whether the payment violated campaign finance laws. The former model, Karen McDougal, says she began an affair with Trump shortly after Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron in 2006.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, whose job it is to say the President did nothing wrong, said the tape proves that Trump did nothing wrong. He told The NY Times it was a professional conversation in which the client, Trump, told his lawyer to do things right. “In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” Giuliani said.

The $150,000 payment for McDougal’s story was made by the parent company of The National Enquirer in a practice  known as “catch and kill.” They bought the rights with no intention of publishing the story so McDougal wouldn’t hurt Trump’s campaign. In the taped conversation, Trump and Cohen talked about buying the rights from the Enquirer.

When the Wall Street Journal revealed the Enquirer payment just days before the election, Trump’s then spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said, “We have no knowledge of any of this.” She said McDougal’s claim of an affair was “totally untrue.”

Trump tweeted yesterday, “Failing New York Times says Michael Cohen has recordings of me illegally paying off Karen McDougal. It was MY IDEA to record! NOT Cohens! Don’t give him credet! Also, NY Times DIDNT EVEN MENTION the recordings of ME taking payments from Russia! Very BAD reporting!”

Wait, what? He took payments from Russia?

Panic in Twitter Park: President Trump was all over Twitter yesterday, commenting on the plight of farmers, foreign currency manipulation, tariffs, the European Union, and the federal reserve raising interest rates.

It’s rare — almost unheard of — for a president to complain about the Fed, but Trump said, “The United States should not be penalized because we are doing so well. Tightening now hurts all that we have done. The U.S. should be allowed to recapture what was lost due to illegal currency manipulation and BAD Trade Deals. Debt coming due & we are raising rates – Really?”

Duck Disaster: Nine of 17 people who died in a duck boat sinking in Branson, Mo. Thursday night were from the same family that was on an annual vacation road trip. Members of three generations of the family died, including four young children. Only two members of the family group survived.

Video taken through the window of a nearby restaurant showed two duck boats fighting fierce winds and waves in a violent storm. One boat made it through but the other kept taking water over its bow, sinking lower and lower. Eventually it capsized. The dead ranged in age from 1 to 70.

Witnesses said other boaters threw life jackets that were just blown back by the wind. People who saw the accident said they could see heads bobbing in the water and then disappearing.

The Roundup: A South Korean court has tacked another eight years onto the prison sentence of former President Park Geun-hye, who was convicted of corruption. That’s 32 years for the 66-year-old Park. —  More than 100 former student athletes have accused former Ohio State spirts doctor Richard Strauss of sexual abuse, the university announced.

Texas Murder Mystery: A cardiologist who treated former President George H.W. Bush was shot and killed while riding his bicycle in Houston. Dr. Mark Hausknecht, 65, Hausknecht was shot by another man on a bike around 9 am yesterday near Texas Children’s Hospital. “The suspect was on a bicycle as well. Rode past the doctor, turned and fired two shots. The doctor immediately went down,” Houston Police Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner said.

Hausknecht flagged down a passing ambulance for help, but died in the hospital.

The Literary Scene: Usually the way a book party works is that the author invites friends and associates, provides food and drinks, reads out load, then signs books his attendees were expected to buy.

No so with former Trump Press secretary Sean Spicer, who’s throwing a book party Tuesday in Washington’s fashionable Wharf district to hawk his memoir, “The Briefing.” After all, it’s Washington, so you have to pay to play. At the $1,000 “Press Secretary” level, you get four tickets, personalized books and entry to a VIP reception. At the $500 “Deputy Press Secretary” level, you get two tickets, the VIP reception, and signed books. At $250 as “Assistant Press Secretary,” you get two general admission tickets and signed books.

There is no “Fired Press Secretary” level of admission.

The Dating Scene: Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s new squeeze since leaving his wife, has been pushed out of Fox News. She’s going to hit the campaign trail with Jr., for the mid-terms, but some reports say the network thought her relationship with the younger Trump was an ethical problem. That’s strange. Fox has no trouble with Sean Hannity being the President’s girlfriend.

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