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The first Michael Cohen-Donald Trump tape is a bit of a black box. It’s not clear exactly what either one is saying or what they mean.

We now know that President Trump and his aides have repeatedly lied about the efforts to cover up an alleged affair he had with a former Playboy model. Almost everything else — including whether the tape creates new legal problems for Trump — is unknown at this point.

For anyone trying to follow this story, I’d offer one overarching tip: You should put zero weight on the claims made by Trump and his team, including Rudy Giuliani. They have shown that they’re willing to lie whenever it suits their cause. Giuliani’s earlier description of the Cohen-Trump tape — from just six days ago — now appears laughably inaccurate.