A secret audio recording of lawyer Michael Cohen speaking with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump about paying to keep a Playboy Playmate’s story of an alleged affair with Trump under wraps was publicly aired for the first time Tuesday night.

On the tape, which was obtained by CNN, Trump and Cohen discuss a transfer of money to a company for “info regarding our friend David” — an apparent reference to David Pecker, CEO of American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer.

The audio, made in September 2016, is the first evidence that Trump discussed a payment to the tabloid to bury Karen McDougal’s story.

“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” Cohen says.

Trump interrupts, asking, “What financing?”

Cohen then tells Trump, “We’ll have to pay,” and Trump apparently is heard saying, “Pay with cash.”

Because the audio is muddled, it is unclear if he was directing Cohen to pay with cash or not pay with cash.

American Media spent $150,000 in August 2016 for a story from McDougal, who claimed she had a 10-month affair with Trump.

At one point on the tape, Trump actually says, “So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”

The juicy exposé was never published.

McDougal sued AMI earlier this year for the right to tell her story.

Her lawyers claimed that the purchase was part of a “catch-and-kill” strategy to bury her tale and protect Trump.

The lawsuit was settled and freed McDougal from the contract that she claimed she was “misled into signing.”

Also on the tape was a discussion of Trump’s divorce papers with first wife Ivana, which had been sought by the New York Times.

“They should never be able to get that,” Trump tells Cohen before ordering someone to “Get me a Coke, please!”

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told The Post on Tuesday night that the tape shows Trump instructed Cohen not to pay with cash.

A transcript of the conversation provided by Giuliani has Trump saying, “Don’t pay with cash . . . check.”

Giuliani had previously said Trump made no payment.

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, who pro­vided the tape to CNN, said Trump’s team has been smearing Cohen.

“Why is Giuliani out falsely disparaging Michael Cohen? Because they fear him . . . They fear that he has the truth about Donald Trump,” Davis told CNN.

The tape is one of a dozen seized by the feds in a raid on Cohen’s home and office.