The watchdog group Common Cause on Monday filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department alleging that a payment made to an adult film star to ensure her silence about a sexual encounter with Donald Trump violated campaign finance law.
The actress, Stephanie Clifford, known Stormy Daniels in the industry, reportedly accepted $130,000 in hush money from an LLC established by Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in October 2016. The Wall Street Journal, in two reports, based its reporting on unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Cohen — and Clifford, according to a statement from her provided to the Journal by Cohen — denied that the sexual encounter had taken place. But In Touch magazine, following the Journal’s first report, published a lengthy 2011 interview with Clifford in which she describes the encounter at length.
In a letter accompanying the complaint Monday, Common Cause’s vice president for policy and litigation, Paul S. Ryan, asserted that the reported hush money “was an unreported in-kind contribution to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and an unreported expenditure by the committee — because the funds were paid for the purpose of influencing the 2016 president general election — in violation of the campaign finance reporting requirements” required by law.
Read Common Cause’s complain below:
Laws are for suckers. And Democrats. But my Republican’t friends would say I’m being redundant…
I have a very difficult time thinking that this payment actually violates the election laws.
On the other hand, anything that keeps “hush money to porn star” in the headlines can’t be all bad.
It also violates “decency laws” but hey as ken said, laws are for suckers
Unfortunately, some people will happily violate the law if the payoff dramatically outweighs their legal jeopardy. Late in the 2016 campaign, it’s difficult to imagine a penalty to Trump severe enough that he’d be willing to let the porn star story hit the news.
Well, I take that back. Forcing a 5k run per day would probably have him properly spooked.
The spokesman for Common Cause is named Paul Ryan? Y’all joking, right?