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Originally Posted by Ksyrup
Given the Q&A above about tying the Daniels payment to campaign finance laws, isn't the fact that there are multiple affairs/payments potentially bad news? Seems to me it can show a pattern of him paying women off to stay quiet that has nothing to do with running for President, and everything to do with him being a celebrity scumbag husband with enough money to shut people up.
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I think your second sentence is what he will use as a defense (unless there is a smoking gun that actually ties campaign funds to payment or proof that the payments were to influence the election).
If there are other payments and they have been occurring for a while, it lends credibility that payments to Daniels/McDougal just before the election was nothing special, just part of a "celebrity scumbag husband with enough money to shut people up".
Secret tape may not add to legal jeopardy for Trump or Cohen - Chicago Tribune
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At issue is whether the payment the men are discussing was campaign-related and intended to influence the election, in which case it would likely be regarded as a contribution, or whether it was merely meant to shield the married Trump from an embarrassing revelation harmful to his personal life. Also important is whether the payment to McDougal from the Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., functioned as a backdoor campaign contribution or as a legitimate media company expense.
"It's a piece of evidence. It's not a smoking gun," Rick Hasen, a campaign finance law expert at the University of California, Irvine, said of the recording. "It's relevant to the investigation, and it's relevant to considering whether Trump or Cohen or AMI committed campaign finance violations, but on its own, it does not constitute proof of any violation."
He added, "It does not establish either a motive to spend illegal or unreported money in violation of the campaign finance laws, and it doesn't establish that any money was actually paid for this purpose."
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said the conversation wasn't campaign-related and that Trump and Cohen didn't make a payment to buy the rights.
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