Washington, Jun 1 (IANS): Audiotapes of US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen making legal threats to a journalist has been released, the media reported.

Cohen threatened journalist Tim Mak in 2015 after he reporter wrote a story about Trump and his first wife, Ivana, reports CNN.

Mak, who now works for NPR, released the tapes on Thursday.

The journalist wrote the story for The Daily Beast where he resurfaced an account from the book "Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump", by Harry Hurt III, in which Ivana Trump recalls a "violent assault" and alleged that she was raped by her husband.

"I will take you for every penny you still don't have," Cohen was heard as saying on a telephone call to Mak.

"You're talking about the front-runner for the Republican presidential candidate, as well as a private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse," he said.

However, Ivana Trump later walked back her claim, saying in 2015 in a statement that The Daily Beast story "is totally without merit", CNN reported.

Cohen is presently under investigation after it was discovered he had made a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, to ensure her silence about her claims of a 2006 affair with Trump.