“When a President’s own lawyer is trying to influence the campaign, he’s not acting independently,” stated Paul Ryan, a lawyer for Common Cause. Common Cause is a non-profit watchdog organization that functions in Washington D.C, and they're claiming that Trump's lawyer violated federal law.
Donald Trump was exposed to have had an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels while attending a golfing event in 2006. The affair was kept under wraps due to a non-disclosure agreement signed by the pornstar before the election to avoid having the scandal become public, although thought story broke anyway. When the scandal hit the press, Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, vehemently denied the claims at first, but now he has admitted to the payoff.
Cohen has admitted to paying $130,000 in hush money, but claims he did it of his own will, and that the Trump administration was not involved in any way. In a statement, Cohen said, “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with (Stormy Daniels), and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly." Cohen refused to describe the details of the transaction.
Common Cause claims that the hush-money was an illegal contribution because of its intent to influence the election. The payoff also exceeded the $2,700 per election donation limit for an individual.
Source: nydailynews.com
