‘Simply not news’: GOP senator wriggles away from CNN host’s questions about Trump-Cohen tape

CNN's John Berman on Wednesday tried to get Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) to comment on a newly released recording of President Donald Trump discussing a payout to cover up an affair with a Playboy model.

When discussing the recording, Berman pointed out to Rounds that Trump and his campaign denied knowing anything about payments to women during the 2016 presidential election, and he asked if that gave the senator any pause when it comes to taking the president at his word.

Rounds, however, denied that the recording was at all important.

"There's no surprise," he said. "There's been no indications that that wasn't the case, as far as I was concerned. And so, once again, in D.C. right now, when we talk about what the issues are and what we talk about here is focused on policy right now... Some of the stories on the sidebar, which this one is for us right now, it's simply not something we've spent a lot of time on."

Rounds pointed out that he was much more concerned about Russian cyberattacks in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections and with tariffs that are hurting farms in his home state than past affairs Trump may have paid to cover up.

"For us it is simply not news," he said.

Watch the video below.