Former election commissioner: Cohen and Trump didn't violate campaign finance law

[Faun]

Look moron, if the Clinton campaign listed the money it aid the opposition research firm, all is legal.

It would be like your fat assed orange buddy if Clinton paid for it out of her own money & not listed it as a campaign donation.

You people are just plain retarded.

Well according to this neither nor Cohen broke any laws.


A candidate is free to contribute to his or her own campaign. It also is not criminal for a candidate to pay hush money to women whose disclosures might endanger his campaign. So if candidate Trump paid hush money to his two accusers, there would be no violation of any campaign or other laws. To be sure, if he did so for the purpose of helping his campaign, as distinguished from helping his marriage, his campaign would have to disclose any such contribution, and failure to do so might be a violation of a campaign law, but the payments themselves would be entirely lawful.


Did President Trump violate campaign finance laws?

If, on the other hand, Cohen made the payments by himself, without direction from the president, that would constitute an impermissible campaign contribution from a third party. But if Cohen was merely acting as a lawyer for Trump and advancing the payments, with an expectation of repayment, then it would be hard to find a campaign finance crime other than failure to report by the campaign.

Failure to report all campaign contributions is fairly common in political circles.

Obama did the same. Didn't see anyone trying to say he committed a felony.

Dumbfuck, while a candidate is free to contribute as much as he or she wants, by law, they must report it if it’s over a certain dollar amount.

It wasn't a campaign contribution, so no such requirement applies.

The women were paid off for their silence as to not harm the campaign.

That's only one reason they were paid off. Since there are other personal reasons, it's not a campaign donation.

Name another personal reason....

 

[Faun]

Well according to this neither nor Cohen broke any laws.


A candidate is free to contribute to his or her own campaign. It also is not criminal for a candidate to pay hush money to women whose disclosures might endanger his campaign. So if candidate Trump paid hush money to his two accusers, there would be no violation of any campaign or other laws. To be sure, if he did so for the purpose of helping his campaign, as distinguished from helping his marriage, his campaign would have to disclose any such contribution, and failure to do so might be a violation of a campaign law, but the payments themselves would be entirely lawful.


Did President Trump violate campaign finance laws?

If, on the other hand, Cohen made the payments by himself, without direction from the president, that would constitute an impermissible campaign contribution from a third party. But if Cohen was merely acting as a lawyer for Trump and advancing the payments, with an expectation of repayment, then it would be hard to find a campaign finance crime other than failure to report by the campaign.

Failure to report all campaign contributions is fairly common in political circles.

Obama did the same. Didn't see anyone trying to say he committed a felony.

Dumbfuck, while a candidate is free to contribute as much as he or she wants, by law, they must report it if it’s over a certain dollar amount.

It wasn't a campaign contribution, so no such requirement applies.

On top of that...even if he did use campaign funds and failed to report it.... he would just pay a fine...like obama did for the 2 million dollars he didn't report.......

Cohen did more than use campaign funds and fail to report it. He falsified statements to a financial institution to deliberately hide the payment under false pretenses, just like Republican pedophile Denny Hastert did.

All at the direction of Trump.

And that is why Cohen and Hastert went directly to jail.

They weren't campaign funds, dick head. They were Trump's personal funds.

What statement did he "falsify?"

Makes no difference. Either way, the campaign contribution has to be reported.

 

[boedicca]

The Status Quo Swamp Creatures are getting desperater and desperater.

All the things they are accusing Trump of were done by either Clinton or Obama to much greater degrees. If they really want to apply these New Rules to Trump, then let's do so Bubba and Barry.

 

[Lesh]

Not gonna fly.

If you think someone else did something illegal...investigate and indict them.

That has ZERO bearing on the Orange Criminal

 

[litman]

It is kind f sad how the radicals who call themselves conservatives are anything but conservative. You find one person giving the answer you want so all of the sudden trump is innocent. Keep drinking the kool-aid. Apparently you really like it. It has really damaged your thinking ability.

 

[g5000]

Cohen's crime is very simple. The problem is, as always, the tards heads were filled with lies by their propagandists before all the facts were in.

And it didn't help that Trump has lied and changed his story all along the way. For gullible tards, that's a recipe for mass delusion.


It's very simple. Trump had just been outed as a ***** grabbing sexual predator. This caused his previous victims of assault to start resurfacing.

Trump was going down. Then Daniels and McDougal bobbed up. Their stories would have killed Trump's election chances for sure.

Cohen had been trying to get Pecker at AMI to capture and kill Stormy's story since Pecker had captured and killed McDougal's story for Trump.

But Pecker didn't want to pay off a porn star, and so Cohen was forced to take out a HELOC and pay off Daniels himself. With his own money.

Not Trump's money. Not from campaign funds.

His. Own. Money.

That made the payment a campaign contribution. And it made it illegal because $130,000 is way over the legal limit.

Cohen attempted to hide the illegal contribution by falsifying the financial statements one has to make under the Patriot Act when moving that kind of sum around. Cohen tried the same bullshit pedophile Denny Hastert pulled with falsified statements. And they both got caught.

And they both go to jail.

See? Very simple.

 

[sealybobo]

Whoops! Another snowflake scheme to get Trump gets shot out of the saddle.

Former election commissioner: Cohen and Trump didn't violate campaign finance law

Trump-haters hoping the president’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, will provide the evidence needed to impeach the president and perhaps even “lock him up” are likely headed for a bitter disappointment. The Cohen guilty pleas are likely irrelevant to the fate of President Trump.

That’s because in my judgment – as someone who served for two years as a member of the Federal Election Commission – the campaign finance law violations Cohen pleaded guilty to committing, allegedly at Donald Trump’s direction, aren’t really violations.

If I’m right – that is, if Cohen didn’t really violate campaign finance law, despite his ill-advised guilty plea – then it would be impossible for Trump to have violated campaign finance law by directing Cohen to take a perfectly legal action.

Confused? That’s understandable, because the media lump all the charges Cohen pleaded guilty to together when explaining this complex case. But in reality, Cohen was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New York City on several separate and unrelated charges.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal judge and was also ordered to pay almost $2 million in fines, restitution and forfeitures after earlier pleading guilty to multiple counts of business and tax fraud. Those crimes have absolutely nothing to do with Trump, but rather involve Cohen’s own business dealings.

In addition, Cohen was sentenced on his guilty pleas to violating campaign finance law on Trump’s behalf – an action that, as I will explain, I believe was not really a crime at all.​

I bet if Hillary did the exact same thing you wouldn't be saying that.

You know who's really good at calling you guys out for being liars? Kelly Ann's husband

George Conway Appears To Fact-Check Wife Kellyanne Conway After Bonkers CNN Interview | HuffPost

The pair sparred over multiple topics, with Conway denying that President Donald Trump had lied about what he knew regarding hush-money payments to women who allegedly had affairs with him.

However, a twist occurred after the conclusion of the show when Conway’s husband, George Conway posted this tweet:


George Conway@gtconway3d

Given that Trump has repeatedly lied about the Daniels and McDougal payments—and given that he lies about virtually everything else, to the point that his own former personal lawyer described him as a “f****ing liar”—why should we take his word over that of federal prosecutors?

Hilary did worse you dolt....she took 145 million dollars from Russia for our Uranium......as the sitting Secretary of State....she committed multiple felony violations of the records act and destroyed evidence that was under federal subpoena......

Hillary took no such money for any such thing. Imbecile, she was a Senator with zero influence over the Uranium One deal when that money was donated to the Clinton Foundation.

And lets be honest here. Shit like this probably happens all the time. I'm sure if you look at any Senator or Governor you'll see donations made and then months later you'll see favors done.

Unfortunately it's all legal. And Republicans do it too. If Trump was a politician before he was president he would have done it all the time. And Trump's foundation is shady. Lets not forget the law has already told him he broke the law through his foundation.

CNN's Drew Griffin looks into allegations that the Trump Foundation may have broken federal tax laws by using donated funds to boost the Trump presidential campaign.

The New York State attorney general’s office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit on Thursday taking aim at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the charity and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.

The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump’s extensive legal challenges.

 

[RealDave]

Funneled money into his campaign without reporting it.

Yup and apparently its a pretty common thing in political circles. Barry did the same and paid a fine.

Don't remember you calling him a criminal.

What the Obama campaign did was not the same.

Obama fines were due to civil matters mostly in meeting timerlinres. El Dumpster's is criminal.

ROFL! So the difference is that Trump is a criminal and Obama is not?

You're a special kind of moron.

I understand just how ******* stupid you are but there are civil cases & criminal cases. They are defined such by law.

The difference being, they charged Obama with a civil violation, and you want to charge Trump criminally for doing the same thing.

It's funny that you don't even realize what a moron you are.

Obama never used his own money to pay off a porn star, A porn Star. Trump kissed the lips that sucked a thousand dicks. I bet that made you proud.

 

[Claudette]

Yup and apparently its a pretty common thing in political circles. Barry did the same and paid a fine.

Don't remember you calling him a criminal.

What the Obama campaign did was not the same.

Obama fines were due to civil matters mostly in meeting timerlinres. El Dumpster's is criminal.

ROFL! So the difference is that Trump is a criminal and Obama is not?

You're a special kind of moron.

I understand just how ******* stupid you are but there are civil cases & criminal cases. They are defined such by law.

The difference being, they charged Obama with a civil violation, and you want to charge Trump criminally for doing the same thing.

It's funny that you don't even realize what a moron you are.

Obama never used his own money to pay off a porn star, A porn Star. Trump kissed the lips that sucked a thousand dicks. I bet that made you proud.

Obama didn't use his own money to pay his either. You can bet your ass he used campaign funds to pay it.

Oh you know for sure that Trump had an affair with Stormy??

Of course you don't but being the lefty loon you are you automatically believe its true.

 

[2aguy]

Cohen did more than use campaign funds and fail to report it. He falsified statements to a financial institution to deliberately hide the payment under false pretenses, just like Republican pedophile Denny Hastert did.

In fact, Cohen used his own money to pay off Trump's hooker. That's the "illegal contribution".

All at the direction of Trump.

And that is why Cohen and Hastert went directly to jail.

They weren't campaign funds, dumbass. You just admitted they were his own funds. In reality they were Trump's funds.

What "statement" did he falsify?

When you give money to someone's campaign, that is a donation. I'm not the the tard who said Cohen used campaign funds to pay off Daniels. That was 2Aguy.

I've made it very clear that Cohen paid off Daniels with his own money at the direction of Trump to get him elected President. That makes it a campaign contribution. An illegal one.

NOW are you FINALLY all caught up?!?

I'm done arguing with someone who is immune to facts and logic.

You're claim is horseshit. If it was prosecutable, Mueller would have done it already.

The authorities have prosecuted. Cohen is off to jail, dipshit. Seriously, you are way behind and need to catch up.

Do you suppose you could post something original? You're boring me to tears.

Is it true the meeting with the National Enquirer guy happened in 2014? And the left wingers think they actually have something?

 

[g5000]

Is it true the meeting with the National Enquirer guy happened in 2014? And the left wingers think they actually have something?

The conspiracy meeting between Cowardly Lyin' Donald and Propagandist Pecker occurred in August 2015. Shortly after Trump announced his candidacy. Trump was worried some of his mistresses might surface, and he asked Pecker to capture and kill their stories.

When McDougal surfaced in 2016, Pecker carried out his part of the deal and paid her $150,000. He did it to help Trump get elected, and that made the payment an illegal campaign contribution.

Around the same time, Pecker refused to pay off Daniels because she was a porn actress, and so Cohen was forced to pay her off himself with his own money.

Like I said, your propagandists have filled your heads with all kinds of lies. You tards are suffering from mass delusion, and that is no accident.

 

[busybee01]

Funny how it wasn't the "Trump criminal enterprise" when he was giving money to Democrats and on "The Apprentice".

Why would he have thought he couldn't win against a woman who lost the 08 and 16 primaries?

Do you really want to open the door to go after a president or any other politician after he leaves office?

Can the government go after Obama for Fast and Furious and Anwar al-Awlaki?

Remember how the lefties were all screaming in unison that Trump couldn't prosecute Hillary because she was his political opponent. Now they are all screaming that they can go after Trump precisely because he is their political opponent.

Dims are all Stalinist scum.

Wow. What a crock of shit. Trump is welcome anytime to try to prosecute Hillary Clinton about anything. Sure, Trump & you Russian loving dickheads think the President should just call the DOJ & prosecute their political adversaries.

Mueller is NOT a political adversary ypu God damn wortheless stupid shit. He is a Republican appointed by Trump's own DOJ.

Jesus Christ you are a ******* moron.

He's an establishment RINO Republican, which means he's indistinguishable from a Democrat. One thing is certain, he believes his job it to destroy Trump any way he can. He doesn't give a damn about justice or the law.

So you say. Anyone who stands up for their values are considered establishment. You have no clue what you are talking about.

Mueller values are so above approach that he hired Andrew Weissmann.


If you lay down with dogs you get fleas

This is being handled by the US Attorney's office in the southern district of NY. The US Attorney that Trump appointed.

 

[busybee01]

Well Trump paid for silence that's not a campaign contribution either.

MORON........First, I'm glad that you....at least....admit that Trump "paid for silence".....The law is then BROKEN when you do not report it as a campaign contribution.

Paint yourself in a corner with your cereal box knowledge of the law?....LOL

The money the DNC and Hitlery paid Steele should be considered a campaign donation by your reckoning.

You sure are stupid.

You seem to have it backwards. Had Steele done it for free it would have been a campaign contribution.

The DNC paid Steele's employer...for a service. I have heard no one claim it wasn't a reported EXPENSE...

YOU are stupid

It's illegal to pay foreigners to work on your campaign, moron. Clinton knows that, and her law firm knows that, so it's an open and shut case.

She did not hire Steele. Fusion GPS did. It is a closed case.

 

[Lesh]

Obama didn't use his own money to pay his either. You can bet your ass he used campaign funds to pay it.

Obama? Tp pay WHO?

WTF do you think you're talking about stupid?

 

[busybee01]

The money the DNC and Hitlery paid Steele should be considered a campaign donation by your reckoning.

You sure are stupid.

Look moron, if the Clinton campaign listed the money it aid the opposition research firm, all is legal.

It would be like your fat assed orange buddy if Clinton paid for it out of her own money & not listed it as a campaign donation.

You people are just plain retarded.

Well according to this neither nor Cohen broke any laws.


A candidate is free to contribute to his or her own campaign. It also is not criminal for a candidate to pay hush money to women whose disclosures might endanger his campaign. So if candidate Trump paid hush money to his two accusers, there would be no violation of any campaign or other laws. To be sure, if he did so for the purpose of helping his campaign, as distinguished from helping his marriage, his campaign would have to disclose any such contribution, and failure to do so might be a violation of a campaign law, but the payments themselves would be entirely lawful.


Did President Trump violate campaign finance laws?

If, on the other hand, Cohen made the payments by himself, without direction from the president, that would constitute an impermissible campaign contribution from a third party. But if Cohen was merely acting as a lawyer for Trump and advancing the payments, with an expectation of repayment, then it would be hard to find a campaign finance crime other than failure to report by the campaign.

Failure to report all campaign contributions is fairly common in political circles.

Obama did the same. Didn't see anyone trying to say he committed a felony.

Dumbfuck, while a candidate is free to contribute as much as he or she wants, by law, they must report it if it’s over a certain dollar amount.

It wasn't a campaign contribution, so no such requirement applies.

On top of that...even if he did use campaign funds and failed to report it.... he would just pay a fine...like obama did for the 2 million dollars he didn't report.......

If Trump ordered the illegal payment to be made and provided the funds, that would be a direct violation of law Obama did not tell his campaign to break the law. That is the difference between a civil fine and criminal charges.

 

[busybee01]

Well according to this neither nor Cohen broke any laws.


A candidate is free to contribute to his or her own campaign. It also is not criminal for a candidate to pay hush money to women whose disclosures might endanger his campaign. So if candidate Trump paid hush money to his two accusers, there would be no violation of any campaign or other laws. To be sure, if he did so for the purpose of helping his campaign, as distinguished from helping his marriage, his campaign would have to disclose any such contribution, and failure to do so might be a violation of a campaign law, but the payments themselves would be entirely lawful.


Did President Trump violate campaign finance laws?

If, on the other hand, Cohen made the payments by himself, without direction from the president, that would constitute an impermissible campaign contribution from a third party. But if Cohen was merely acting as a lawyer for Trump and advancing the payments, with an expectation of repayment, then it would be hard to find a campaign finance crime other than failure to report by the campaign.

Failure to report all campaign contributions is fairly common in political circles.

Obama did the same. Didn't see anyone trying to say he committed a felony.

Dumbfuck, while a candidate is free to contribute as much as he or she wants, by law, they must report it if it’s over a certain dollar amount.

It wasn't a campaign contribution, so no such requirement applies.

On top of that...even if he did use campaign funds and failed to report it.... he would just pay a fine...like obama did for the 2 million dollars he didn't report.......

Cohen did more than use campaign funds and fail to report it. He falsified statements to a financial institution to deliberately hide the payment under false pretenses, just like Republican pedophile Denny Hastert did.

All at the direction of Trump.

And that is why Cohen and Hastert went directly to jail.

They weren't campaign funds, dick head. They were Trump's personal funds.

What statement did he "falsify?"

They became campaign funds because they were used to pay someone to be quiet before the election.

 

[busybee01]

It wasn't a campaign contribution, so no such requirement applies.

On top of that...even if he did use campaign funds and failed to report it.... he would just pay a fine...like obama did for the 2 million dollars he didn't report.......

Cohen did more than use campaign funds and fail to report it. He falsified statements to a financial institution to deliberately hide the payment under false pretenses, just like Republican pedophile Denny Hastert did.

In fact, Cohen used his own money to pay off Trump's hooker. That's the "illegal contribution".

All at the direction of Trump.

And that is why Cohen and Hastert went directly to jail.

They weren't campaign funds, dumbass. You just admitted they were his own funds. In reality they were Trump's funds.

What "statement" did he falsify?

When you give money to someone's campaign, that is a donation. I'm not the the tard who said Cohen used campaign funds to pay off Daniels. That was 2Aguy.

I've made it very clear that Cohen paid off Daniels with his own money at the direction of Trump to get him elected President. That makes it a campaign contribution. An illegal one.

NOW are you FINALLY all caught up?!?

I'm done arguing with someone who is immune to facts and logic.

You're claim is horseshit. If it was prosecutable, Mueller would have done it already.

You are immune to facts.

This is being prosecuted by the US Attorney's office in the southern district of NY not Mueller. A Trump appointee.

 

[busybee01]

I'm done arguing with someone who is immune to facts and logic.

You just described the average liberal / democrat / snowflake voter, the ones whose stupidity Gruber repeatedly declared the DNC counts on to get away with all that they do......

You are the one who has constantly proven their stupidity. The Republican base vote consists of stupid hillbilly voters.

 

[nat4900]

ou are immune to facts.

This is being prosecuted by the US Attorney's office in the southern district of NY not Mueller. A Trump appointee.

In fairness, the Trump appointee quickly recused himself from the case....However, the discovery of evidence from Cohen's office and home, is irrefutable.....

 

[nat4900]

You are the one who has constantly proven their stupidity. The Republican base vote consists of stupid hillbilly voters