While right-wingers twist themselves into giant knots trying to justify their continued support of a president who cheated on his wife as she recovered from childbirth with an adult film star, trying to convince themselves and others that Trump somehow still shares their values, the criminality behind Trump’s attempts to cover up his affair cannot be rationalized away. A new criminal complaint by an ethics watchdog group may force Trump’s supporters, as well as the rest of the world, to acknowledge not only the moral failings of their commander-in-chief, but the legal failings, as well.
CREW has asked the Justice Department and Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the $130,000 secret payment to Stormy Daniels may have violated federal law because Trump did not list it on his financial disclosure forms. https://t.co/A4PJj6XToF
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 10, 2018
In an official letter of complaint to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Citizens for Ethical Responsibility (CREW) wrote that:
‘Newly reported information…suggests that President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen or Essential Consultants LLC made a loan to President Trump for which Mr. Cohen expected to be reimbursed after making a $130,000 payment on behalf of President Trump to a third party as part of a nondisclosure agreement. If it was a loan, President Trump seemingly violated federal law by failing to disclose it as a liability on his [campaign finance reports].’
Does Donald Trump have an undisclosed financial interest in the LLC his lawyer used to “facilitate” a payment to Stormy Daniels? We’re asking the Office of Government Ethics to investigate. @normeisen @rwpusahttps://t.co/9cwRf8siGv
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) March 4, 2018
The payment presents a problem whether or not it was a loan. If it was, CREW has laid out the reasons why it was a violation of federal law. If it wasn’t and Michael Cohen just paid Trump’s mistress, Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, off out of the kindness of his heart on behalf of Trump and with Trump’s knowledge, it is an in-kind donation that was also not reported on campaign finance disclosure forms and far exceeded the allowable amount of contributions that can legally be made to an individual presidential candidate.
https://twitter.com/723CPalmer/status/970450757148225536
Either way, Trump violated campaign finance laws, and CREW is determined to address that. CREW board chair Norman Eisen released a statement saying:
‘The more we learn about the Essential Consultants affair, the more it looks like something is missing from the president’s financial disclosures…If he failed to disclose this situation, we must ask, what else is he hiding?’
"This is quite a crew of miscreants we have running things these days. If they'd planned the Great Train… https://t.co/LTDB3xH6JX
— TomDAntoni (@TomDAntoni) March 9, 2018
That’s the question most Americans have been asking about Donald Trump since even before he decided he’d make a shady run for the presidency.
Featured image via Getty/Bloomberg
