'Start Here': Cohen-Trump tape, Farmer bailouts and Greece wildfires. What you need to know to start your day

It's Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Here are some of the stories we're talking about on ABC News' new daily podcast, "Start Here."

1. Trump-Cohen secret audio tape made public

Last week, we learned about this audio of the president talking to his longtime personal attorney. This is back in 2016, just weeks before the election. Michael Cohen apparently recorded lots of conversations, including this one with his client, Donald Trump.

And the two men are apparently talking about Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who allegedly had an affair with Trump. She had sold her story to AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer.

And the president's team has issued a transcript of the call. At least, what they said was a transcript.

Then late last night, ABC News obtained the actual audio.

ABC News' Katherine Faulders explains what's on the tape and why it matters.

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2. Trump's $12 billion plan to help farmers

President Donald Trump has offered help to U.S. farmers caught in the crossfire of the trade war.

As producers of soybeans, corn, pork and more face steep taxes in China, the Department of Agriculture unveiled a plan on Tuesday to provide $12 billion in aid to the farmers who have been affected.

The proposal was not received well by several Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who tweeted: "If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers -- the answer is remove the tariffs."

Meagan Kaiser is a farmer who grows soybeans and corn with her family in Carrollton, Missouri, and she tells us, "Farmers will always prefer to get their paycheck from the marketplace rather than the mailbox."

3. Trump using North Korea approach on Iran?

Trump warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this week in an all-caps tweet he could "SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE." It's been a year since Trump threatened "fire and fury" on North Korea, but his threats and name-calling against "Little Rocket Man" eventually led to a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Is the president approaching Iran with the same strategy he used for the North?

"It seems to be a very similar script," ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz tells us. "Whether he means that right now and really wants to start a fight with the Iranians, or he's just kind of deflecting attention from other things we know about, we'll have to see."

And new satellite images show North Korea dismantling missile engine test sites, according to analysts, and Trump has said he's happy with how everything with the North is progressing. Raddatz says there's still a long way to go before North Korea denuclearizes.

"We hadn't seen anything really concrete come out of that summit, and it's a tiny baby toe in the water that the North Koreans are moving in the right direction."

4. Dozens dead in Greece wildfires

Wildfires have ripped through Greece as high winds fueled flames near Athens. More than 70 people are dead -- some tried to flee, but in certain cases the only escape was to run into the sea.

One couple described to ABC News Senior Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell how they tried to go up a hill with 26 people, but ended up swimming away instead. Bodies from that group were later found huddled together.

"It came so quickly, so violently," they said, "that there was nowhere else to go."