President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen wrongly pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance law because such violations “are not a crime,” the president argued Wednesday on Twitter.
Trump pointed to the Federal Election Commission fining former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign $375,000, one of the largest fines ever to be brought against a presidential campaign, in an effort to bolster his argument.
“Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!” Trump tweeted.
[Related: Trump’s ‘bad week’: Manafort found guilty, Cohen enters plea deal]
Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
The president’s tweet followed an interview Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, gave on MSNBC, in which he said there is “no dispute” Trump committed a crime during the 2016 campaign.
Some have sided with Trump on the issue, like conservative commentator Mark Levin, who said on Fox News on Tuesday that it is “perfectly legal” for a candidate to spend money on a matter that did not result from the campaign.
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts Tuesday, which included tax fraud, false statements to a bank, and campaign finance violations. The campaign finance violations are related to Cohen paying two women who alleged they had affairs with Trump years before he ran for president. He said he paid them for their silence weeks before the election at the direction of the “candidate” — he did not name Trump in court filings.
The violations connected to Obama’s 2008 campaign centered on missing 48-hour notices on more than a thousand contributions totaling almost $2 million, Politico reported at the time. The FEC required the notices be filed on contributions of $1,000 or more that were donated within 20 days of Election Day. Incorrect contribution dates on some campaign reports and the campaign’s late return of some contributions that exceeded the legal limit were also at issue.
[Opinion: Cohen’s plea could land Trump in the witness chair]
