[EL] An overview of campaign finance laws relevant to the Muller Investigation

Thu Feb 7 11:58:41 PST 2019

For a fuller picture of the foreign menace in 2016, perhaps add these as
footnotes?

https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7035/18044437388.pdf

https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7035/18044437382.pdf

On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 2:42 PM Matthew Sag <matthewsag at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Paul and Doug (and others!) for your very helpful contributions. I
> have prepared a discussion document that I will be sharing with my Election
> Law class and I welcome any further thoughts the list might have. See
> attached.
>
> Please note that this is a teaching aid, not a federal inditement, I
> recognize that there is a counter narrative and counter arguments that will
> no doubt be made.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matt
>
> *Matthew Sag*
> *Georgia Reithal Professor of Law at **Loyola University Chicago School
> of Law; **Associate Director for Intellectual Property, Institute for
> Consumer Antitrust Studies; Member of the** American Law Institute; **Co-founder
> of ScotusOA.com, a website devoted to empirical analysis and forecasts of
> US Supreme Court oral arguments. For links to publications, biographical
> details, see MatthewSag.com. Working papers also available on SSRN.com.*
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 5:37 PM Paul Ryan <PRyan at commoncause.org> wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Doug.  Also, Matt, I’ve written a few things for * Just Security*
>> on these topics here <https://www.justsecurity.org/author/ryanpauls/>
>> and here <https://www.justsecurity.org/author/ryanpauls/page/2/>, which
>> link to many of the complaints and other docs Doug pointed you to.
>> Included are analyses of possible campaign violations by team Trump arising
>> from the Trump Tower meeting
>> <https://www.justsecurity.org/43072/smoking-gun-donald-trump-jr-trump-campaign-committee/>
>> in June 2016, the hush payments to Daniels and McDougal, Manafort data
>> sharing with Russians and Roger Stone’s request for hacked emails from
>> WikiLeaks.  I’m happy to discuss any/all of this stuff in more detail, so
>> don’t hesitate to email or call.  Best,
>>
>>
>>
>> *Paul Seamus Ryan | Common Cause | Vice President, Policy & Litigation*
>>
>> Office: 202-736-5716 | Mobile: 202-262-7315 | @ThePaulSRyan
>>
>> 805 Fifteenth Street NW, Suite 800|Washington, DC 20005
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> *On
>> Behalf Of *Doug Spencer
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 5, 2019 5:34 PM
>> *To:* Matthew Sag <matthewsag at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* law-election at uci.edu
>> *Subject:* Re: [EL] An overview of campaign finance laws relevant to the
>> Muller Investigation
>>
>>
>>
>> Matt,
>>
>>
>>
>> Common Cause has been all over this. Although their legal arguments
>> haven't been fleshed out in court yet, your students might find it
>> interesting to see the allegations in the Stephanie Clifford and Karen
>> MacDougald cases as a complaint (e.g., see here
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commoncause.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2FCC-v.-Trump-Stormy_AMENDED-Complaint_3.12.18.pdf&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795277302&sdata=aa84GtSzXbtvGe3BzDxco8jwFwshQup5TOZ6pQjJ%2BO8%3D&reserved=0>). And
>> to see how Common Cause has pushed the DOJ to intervene
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commoncause.org%2Fresource%2Fcommon-cause-v-trump-cohen-stormy-daniels%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795287315&sdata=uujY5BHmDNfBl7GIP5EOmFgBql15xweteJxQB8BAG3w%3D&reserved=0> as
>> well. It should set up a nice discussion about both the substance (should
>> the phrase "anything of value" be void for vagueness?) and the general
>> process (concerned citizens/orgs file complaint with FEC, and if it feels
>> compelled the FEC can independently enforcement and/or sometimes will
>> itself file suit in the DDC. DOJ may also intervene in certain cases).
>>
>>
>>
>> There are links to Common Cause-authored memos and op-eds about Roger
>> Stone's alleged connection to WikiLeaks, the campaign's alleged false
>> expense reporting, and alleged foreign solicitation at this page
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commoncause.org%2Fcampaigns%2Fcampaign-finance%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795297319&sdata=tU5DTegDaJqbz2L9Eu%2B%2B7f4MxEPv0qtxZeBZjGrAaBE%3D&reserved=0>
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>> Because the Trump campaign has yet to be held liable for these alleged
>> violations, most of the available materials are on the "offensive" side.
>> Defenders of Trump and critics of Common Cause (not a perfectly overlapping
>> group) have certainly generated some press (see, e.g., here
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Frand-paul-defends-trump-campaign-finance-violations-shouldnt-be-criminal-1251256&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795297319&sdata=pqeSF%2FUGplmWIDRFJMEoJxbI0ZK%2Fr%2Fg7uql25OZxTko%3D&reserved=0>
>> , here
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heritage.org%2Fcrime-and-justice%2Fcommentary%2Ftrumps-ex-lawyer-didnt-violate-campaign-finance-laws-and-neither-did&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795307327&sdata=BD%2F8ByLS4ZUQDS0aQWqro3RI69CHx%2BL%2FqWXVYz825oM%3D&reserved=0>,
>> and here
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fopinion%2Ftrump-did-not-violate-campaign-finance-law-despite-what-prosecutors-say&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795317339&sdata=gNx7lAGkou1rt9FCUD0rNUt6CfpC3WOyU1PH87rey3U%3D&reserved=0>)
>> but there's no simple clearinghouse similar to what Common Cause has
>> compiled.
>>
>>
>>
>> One more thought is to filter the Election Law Blog for all stories
>> related to Trump (see here
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fs%3DTrump%26x%3D22%26y%3D11&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795317339&sdata=JZvqsruh589nm0Nh8%2F7rr5AMl5hQnKSPO7P3Fl%2BRArE%3D&reserved=0>).
>> This should be helpful if you're interested in media coverage of the
>> campaign finance issues.
>>
>>
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>> Doug
>>
>>
>>
>> -----
>>
>> *Douglas M. Spencer*
>>
>> *Professor of Law & Public Policy*
>>
>> University of Connecticut
>>
>>
>>
>> Visiting Professor, 2018-2019
>>
>> Harris Public Policy
>>
>> University of Chicago
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.dougspencer.org
>> <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Foutlook.office.com%2Fmail%2Finbox%2Fid%2FAAQkADdjMTM4NDQ4LTcwMWItNDdjNS04NzE5LTRjM2M4ZGVkYmRlNwAQAJgVtPZDv7xDidqBTuvM5qo%253D&data=02%7C01%7Cpryan%40commoncause.org%7C7310e4cbc7c14c7c1e0b08d68bba1c12%7Cdb39e4b4de324cf9b66e9d02d8172178%7C0%7C1%7C636850028795327356&sdata=8bKM0cREcALYSCdw4JYkAqYUc9JxrjO0Ppuj7PnzK7o%3D&reserved=0>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 3:24 PM Matthew Sag <matthewsag at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Is anyone aware of a good resource that summarizes the potential ways in
>> which members of the Trump campaign may have, violating the
>> campaign-finance laws in relation to the 2016 presidential election? I
>> thought this might be a good way of introducing my election law students to
>> material that can otherwise seem a little bit dry and technical.
>>
>>
>>
>> Your assistance would be appreciated!
>>
>>
>>
>> *Matthew Sag*
>>
>> *Georgia Reithal Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of
>> Law; Associate Director for Intellectual Property, Institute for Consumer
>> Antitrust Studies; Member of the** American Law Institute; **Co-founder
>> of ScotusOA.com, a website devoted to empirical analysis and forecasts of
>> US Supreme Court oral arguments. For links to publications, biographical
>> details, see MatthewSag.com. Working papers also available on SSRN.com.*
>>
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>>
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-- 
Steve Klein
Attorney
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenrklein
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