In his letter to Wood, Gleason wrote, "Mr. Dunleavy did indeed discuss this very matter with Mr. Trump as evidenced by the phone call I received from Attorney Michael Cohen." But Dunleavy denied this account — telling CNBC on Friday that he didn't talk to Trump about the matter after Gleason had told him about the two women. "I didn't talk to Trump about this," Dunleavy said by phone from the Florida Keys. He conceded, however: "I have talked to Trump in the past." Dunleavy told CNBC that Gleason called him Thursday about a proposed letter to Wood, "but he didn't check with me" to confirm that the former columnist had actually told Trump about it. "I may have spoken to Trump once since I retired" a decade ago, Dunleavy added. But again, that conversation did not relate to Gleason's claims, the journalist said. He also said: "I've never spoken to Cohen, ever, ever in my life." When told about Dunleavy's comments by CNBC, Gleason suggested that Dunleavy "might have spoken to the secretary" for Trump. "I did receive a call from Cohen the next day," Gleason said. He added that before getting that call, "Cohen didn't know me from a hole in the wall." At the time of Gleason's call to Dunleavy about Schneiderman, Trump's Trump University was under investigation by the then-New York attorney general.

Michael Cohen, longtime personal lawyer and confidante for President Donald Trump, arrives at the United States District Court Southern District of New York on April 26, 2018 in New York City. Getty Images