Michael Cohen Claims He Helped Jerry Falwell Jr. Handle Racy Photo Controversy

In a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters, evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. asked Donald Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor months before Falwell endorsed Trump.

Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world’s largest Christian universities, bemoans how someone had received what Cohen described as racy “personal” photographs – the type typically kept “between husband and wife,” Cohen said in the taped conversation, the report said.

A source, however, said the person who possessed the photos destroyed them after Cohen intervened on the Falwell’s behalf, Reuters reported.

The Falwells, through a lawyer, declined to comment, the report said.

In a recording made surreptitiously by comedian Tom Arnold on March 25, Cohen recounted his involvement in the matter, the report said.

Portions of the recording — in which Cohen appeared to disavow parts of his guilty plea — were first reported April 24 by The Wall Street Journal, Reuters reported.

The Falwells sought Cohen’s help in 2015, according to the source familiar with Cohen’s thinking, the year Trump announced his presidential candidacy, the report said. At the time, Cohen was Trump’s confidant and personal lawyer and worked for the Trump Organization.

The Falwells wanted to keep “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public, Cohen told Arnold, Reuters reported. “I actually have one of the photos,” he said, without going into specifics. “It’s terrible.”

Cohen would later prove successful in another matter involving Falwell, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Cohen helped persuade Falwell to issue his endorsement of Trump’s presidential candidacy at a critical moment, they said: Just before the Iowa caucuses. Falwell subsequently barnstormed with Trump and vouched for the candidate’s Christian virtues.

Reuters has no evidence that Falwell’s endorsement of Trump was related to Cohen’s involvement in the photo matter, the news agency reported. The source familiar with Cohen’s thinking insisted the endorsement and the help with the photographs were separate issues.

During the campaign, Cohen worked closely with Liberty University to help promote Trump’s candidacy, the report said. It was around that time Cohen heard from the Falwells about the photographs, said the source familiar with Cohen’s thinking.

The Falwells informed Cohen someone had obtained photographs that were embarrassing to them, and was demanding money, the source said. Reuters was unable to determine who made the demand. 

The source told Reuters Cohen flew to Florida and soon met with an attorney for the person with the photographs. Cohen spoke with the attorney, informing the lawyer his client was committing a crime, and law enforcement authorities would be informed if the demands didn’t stop, the source said.

The matter was soon resolved, the source said, and the lawyer told Cohen all of the photographs were destroyed.

– WN.com, Jack Durschlag