A former chairman of the Federal Election Commission believes the payment President Trump’s attorney made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up the illicit affair between the president and the porn star is a six-figure campaign finance violation.
Trevor Potter, who served as chair of the FEC during President George H.W. Bush’s administration, told CBS’ “60 Minutes” the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, would be an in-kind contribution to Trump’s campaign. It would be about $126,500 more than is legally allowed.
Cohen has admitted to making the payment in October 2016, just weeks before his long-time client won the presidential election. The payment was meant to enforce a non-disclosure agreement that would keep Daniels from speaking about the affair.
“It’s a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he’s allowed to give,” Potter said. “And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.”
Cohen, who did not respond to requests for comment by CBS, previously said he made the payment with his own money. That could put him in even more hot water than if he was just a go-between for Trump to pay Daniels.
“If he was then reimbursed by the president, that doesn’t remove the fact that the initial payment violated Cohen’s contribution limits,” Potter said. “I guess it mitigates it if he’s paid back by the candidate because the candidate could have paid for it without limit.”
During the interview, Daniels’ attorney — Michael Avenatti — produced a cover letter from the Federal Express envelope used by Daniels’ previous attorney to send a non-disclosure agreement to Cohen.
The address the contract was sent to was Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and Cohen was listed as Trump’s personal attorney on the envelope.
Avenatti said that’s proof that there is no distance between Cohen and Trump on this issue, and makes it clear Cohen was acting on Trump’s behalf.
Daniels herself alleges in the interview that she was physically threatened by someone to stay silent about her affair with Trump.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter … and a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,’” she said. “And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
“This is about the cover-up. This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb,” he said. “It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy.”
Potter pointed to the case against former presidential candidate John Edwards, who was prosecuted for campaign finance violations for making payments to a woman with whom he had an affair — and a child — a year before he ran for president in 2008. Potter said the case against Cohen would be even stronger, due to the timing of the payment.
