The idea that President Donald Trump should be charged with a campaign finance violation because the payment Michael Cohen made to Stormy Daniels was a campaign expense ignores the way the campaign finance laws have been interpreted.
Hopefully, someone is going to stop and consider the ramifications before going forward.
To understand what an absurd accusation it is, consider if the opposite had been true and Cohen had used campaign funds to pay Stormy Daniels. In that case the Democrats and the liberal mainstream media would be up in arms about the illegal use of campaign funds because paying off someone who makes accusations about the candidate’s behavior long before he was a candidate, has not been considered a legitimate campaign expense.
Candidates, even presidential candidates are allowed to spend money during the campaign. Every dime they spend from the time they announce their candidacy to the election is not a legitimate campaign expense. Usually what gets candidates in trouble is spending campaign money on personal expenses. A candidate may believe he needs a new $5,000 suit for a televised debate and it may be that the fancy suit will win him some votes, but he can’t charge that suit to the campaign unless perhaps he only wears it that one time.
Trump had many reasons for wanting the threat of a lawsuit from Stormy Daniels to go away. One was certainly his campaign. But his wife, family and reputation were also legitimate concerns. If he had not won the election, he might have gone back to being a reality television star and an accusation from a porn actress would not have enhanced that career.
There is no way anyone can prove that absent the campaign, the same decision would not have been made. Trump says that he never told Cohen to pay Daniels. Cohen now says that Trump did. But Cohen’s story keeps changing, which one is the truth. Cohen would be a terrible witness in front of jury. Cohen would have to convince the jury that this time he was telling the truth, that is Cohen sticks to his current story.
It makes good copy for the mainstream media to be howling about the possibility of Trump being indicted but according to some legal scholars a sitting president cannot be indicted. The president has to be impeached and removed from office first and with a Republican Senate, there is zero chance that Trump will be removed from office for what some perceive to be a campaign finance violation.
Hi John, Keep on writing!
So Clinton paid off ‘The Ladies ” and appears Trump did too . Here’s the amazing fact ,Congress has a slush fund for our dear elected officials to pay for sexual harassment ,how about that ! And does Nancy Pelosi preside over it ?