[EL] “Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea Directly Implicates Donald Trump in a Felony”

Wed Aug 22 08:15:27 PDT 2018

It wouldn't be "hush money" if it were disclosed.
  - dah
-- 

On August 22, 2018 10:36:27 "Foley, Edward" <foley.33 at osu.edu> wrote:

> Rick & list members,
>
> Am I correct that the “hush money” payments themselves would not have been 
> criminal conduct IF (1) made from the campaign itself using money received 
> in compliance with contribution limits and (2) disclosed as 
> campaign-related expenses?
>
> If so, I’m trying to evaluate whether Trump’s own culpability as alleged by 
> Cohen should rise to the level of an impeachable “high crime or 
> misdemeanor”.   In other word, if it ever comes to that, what should 
> Senator Rob Portman (for example) do, on the facts as stated by Cohen 
> yesterday if made the basis of an impeachment count by the House (assuming 
> that Senator Portman endeavors to do the right thing under the 
> Constitution, as some Republican Senators did in my judgment in acquitting 
> Andrew Johnson even though they had the raw power to remove him)?
>
> Presumably, some campaign finance violations—even if intentionally 
> criminal—do not rise to the level of impeachable offenses.  Assume a 
> situation in which no “hush money” payments were involved, but a 
> presidential candidate intentionally conspired with a wealthy donor to 
> receive a contribution in excess of the statutory limits, and also the 
> intentional conspiracy involved an effort to hide the illegally excessive 
> contribution from the FEC.  Would that be enough to warrant removing the 
> elected president from office?
>
> Does the Senate’s decision not to remove Bill Clinton from office count as 
> a relevant “precedent” in this context?  To be sure, criminality in an 
> effort to sway an election seems constitutionally more problematic (in my 
> judgment) than criminality in an effort to protect one’s personal 
> reputation (as arguably was the nature of Bill Clinton’s criminality).  
> Especially because there is no mechanism to remove a president other than 
> impeachment if there was criminally improper interference with the 
> electorate’s choice on which candidate should win, I think an 
> election-related crime should count more significantly for impeachment 
> purposes than at least some other types of crimes.  Even so, it is not 
> obvious to me that every election-related crime committed by a presidential 
> candidate should automatically be viewed as a sufficient basis for 
> impeachment and removal from office.
>
> Any input as I endeavor to think this through?  Thanks, Ned
>
> [The Ohio State University]
> Edward B. Foley
> Director, Election Law @ Moritz
> Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law
> Moritz College of Law
> 614-292-4288
>
> From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> On 
> Behalf Of Rick Hasen
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2018 8:23 PM
> To: Election Law Listserv <law-election at uci.edu>
> Subject: [EL] “Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea Directly Implicates Donald Trump 
> in a Felony”
>
> “Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea Directly Implicates Donald Trump in a 
> Felony”<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100738>
> Posted on August 21, 2018 5:22 pm<https://electionlawblog.org/?p=100738> by 
> Rick Hasen<https://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> I have written this 
> piece<https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/08/michael-cohens-guilty-plea-directly-implicates-donald-trump-in-a-felony.html> 
> for Slate. It begins:
>
> For the first time since the Trump presidency began, President Donald Trump 
> is in some real legal jeopardy, providing potential grounds for his 
> eventual impeachment, if not indictment.
>
> Most people watching the investigations involving Trump and his orbit have 
> been focused on whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller is going to bring 
> charges related possible illegal coordination between the 2016 Trump 
> presidential campaign and Russian government entities. But Tuesday brought 
> news of a different kind of campaign collusion: between Trump and his 
> personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance 
> violations related to hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels 
> and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal bring the president front and 
> center in a conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance laws.
>
>
> [Share]<https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D100738&title=%E2%80%9CMichael%20Cohen%E2%80%99s%20Guilty%20Plea%20Directly%20Implicates%20Donald%20Trump%20in%20a%20Felony%E2%80%9D>
> Posted in campaign finance<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, 
> campaigns<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>, 
> chicanery<https://electionlawblog.org/?cat=12>
>
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
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