There is no comparison between Donald Trump and President Obama, although Trump sure seems to wish there were. On Saturday, Trump doubled down on his insistence that the felony campaign violations he directed his personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, to commit were no different than the minor campaign finance violations found during an audit of Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. In fact, there is no comparison there.
There are some major differences between the two, to say the least. Obama’s campaign was cited in both instances for missing a 48-hour window of reporting of donations over $1,000, although they did report them. The fact that they were found during an audit means that they were reported, just past the deadline, and that there was no effort to conceal those payments.
POLITICO reported:
‘Independent experts, including former FEC commissioner Michael Toner, said after the audit was released that the infractions were relatively minor, given the scope of the campaign.’
The biggest difference, however, is that there was never any indication that President Obama directed anyone to commit those violations nor to cover them up. In fact, Obama’s campaign reported every donation and the late reimbursements were an accounting error, not a deliberate attempt to conceal felony crimes.
Trump believes that, in spite of the clear evidence that the two cases are entirely different, he will get away with this lie. With his supporters, he will. They’ll buy anything Trump feeds them. As for the courts, that’s not going to fly.
Twitter wasn’t buying it, either. Read some of their comments below:
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
