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Revelations Show the Trump Campaign Paid Michael Cohen’s Legal Fees

Advice

The latest from the Trump campaign front show that they have spent as much as $228,000 in legal fees to cover Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The news is quite groundbreaking since if the allegations are proven, they could have serious repercussions because they violate campaign finance laws.

Records at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that up to 3 payments were made from the Trump campaign to a firm representing Cohen. The payments under the label “legal consulting” were paid out to McDermott Will and Emery.

The recipients are a law firm where Stephen Ryan, Cohen’s attorney was a partner between October 2017 and January 2018. According to sources, those three payments were meant to cover costs of Cohen’s legal defense

Earlier on, Cohen mentioned that he did not have any active formal role in the Trump campaign. In addition, he stated that it would be illegal to spend campaign funds to handle personal issues. As per the FEC, it is defined as payments for expenses “that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or responsibilities as a federal officeholder.”

Stephen Spaulding, the chief of strategy at the non-profit watchdog group, Common Cause, believes that the entire fiasco is built on shaky ground. From his point of view, members of the Trump campaign team were really pushing the envelope. This is with regards to how they handled campaign-related payments. They simply cannot fail to fully cite how the campaign funds were used.

Examination

Legal experts have been hard at work trying to decipher what really happened. Most of them concur that if the payments documented by the FEC were related to the Russia investigations, then, they would not be in violation of the campaign finance law. However, if the monies spent have any connection to the Stormy Daniels situation, then, there would be a serious issue. This is especially true considering the entire investigation has ties to the 2016 presidential campaign.

Notably, Trump has retained Cohen as his personal attorney and confidant for more than a decade. In all that time, this is the first time he is facing legal battles because of his relationship with president Trump

At present, it is not apparent what the funds where for, however; those in close circles have revealed to members of the press that the legal work payments were not related to Daniels in any way. When quizzed about the payments, a spokesperson working for the Trump campaign declined to comment. On the other hand, Cohen’s attorney, Ryan, also failed to respond to the allegations.

The facts on the table show that Ryan has represented Cohen in two key legal issues. The first involves Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible collusion between Russian agents and the Trump campaign prior to the 2016 presidential election. The second involves a payment paid out to an exotic star who claims to have had sexual relations with Trump in 2006.

Probe

Already, Mueller’s team have subpoenaed the Trump Organization over documents that link them with Russian agents. Cohen has been queried about his participation in confidential negotiations held at a Trump Tower in Moscow during the presidential campaign. In August, it was revealed that the delegation had seriously contemplated making the world’s tallest building in Moscow before they changed course.

Mueller’s investigation into the matter could also see them stumbling into the matter of Cohen’s 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, moments before the election. The payment was allegedly made in order to make her hush up about the relationship she had with Trump

Just last month, FBI agents looking for records that could implicate Trump on the Stormy Daniels fiasco, had raided Cohen’s home, hotel room, and office. This was shortly after Mueller’s team made a referral to the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

Since then, Cohen had not been formally charged with any crime. However; he did appear in court where the judge appointed a “special master” charged with oversight of the seized materials in order to ascertain which records can remain untouched due to attorney-client privilege.

Other probes that could be investigated are the scenarios where Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) paid out $514,000 in legal fees to Donald Trump Jr.

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