Federal prosecutors in New York are reportedly investigating whether the Trump Organization violated campaign finance laws after former longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty last month to breaking such laws.
Cohen admitted to violating campaign finance laws by paying off women who claimed to have had affairs with President Trump years ago. During a court appearance, Cohen implicated his former boss, saying he paid the woman hush money at the direction of the candidate and he was then repaid by Trump’s company.
A day after the guilty plea, Trump tweeted that the violations “are not a crime.”
Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was granted immunity to provide information to investigators about Cohen’s activities and the hush payments. Investigators are now probing who at the Trump Organization may have known about the payments, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
Cohen’s plea filing said the reimbursements he received from Trump’s company were “legal expenses” and did not classify them as payments related to the campaign, the report said. Services to a campaign are required by law to be reported and have spending limits.
Cohen paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before Election Day, and sought reimbursement for it in January 2017. Former Playboy model Karen McDougal was paid $150,000 by the National Enquirer for her story, which was not published. Her acceptance of the payment prevented her from speaking publicly about the alleged affair. In July, Cohen released a recording of a conversation between him and Trump discussing the payment to McDougal.
[More: Trump chooses not to enforce Stormy Daniels nondisclosure agreement]
