What is the underlying crime that makes 34 misdemeanors into felonies?
Over the limit campaign contributions
Causing Cohen to lie to his bank or to the IRS
Colluding with tabloid friend to influence the election
- Campaign coordination with corporations
1. Federal campaign law allows candidates to make unlimited contributions to their own campaigns. That law should be changed ASAP, but that means that Tr*mp can’t be charged for violating federal limits. The federal law overrides all state laws on limits too.
2. Cohen pled guilty for mostly tax evasion, but the Tr*mp Org grossed up (doubled) his reimbursement to cover extra taxes. It would be difficult to prove tax fraud where the Org overpaid for ‘legal expenses’ to increase Cohen’s taxes.
3. Collusion isn’t in the criminal code, as long time Kos readers remember. Also, the National Enquirer enjoys broad 1st Amendment rights to lie, manipulate the public with Russian disinformation, or campaign for their favorite candidate, as Fox knows. There may be a New York law covering ‘conspiracy to defraud an election’, but in this case it’s not clear that would survive appeal.
No, the violation is in campaign coordination with corporations.
Organizations are broadly allowed to support their favorite candidate publicly, but they are not allowed to contribute to candidates (or their campaigns) directly. If they coordinate with a candidate or a campaign, then that would be a direct contribution, which is illegal.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) says “the Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits corporations and labor organizations from making contributions, [so] it is important to avoid coordinating with corporations and labor organizations regarding communications”. The specific law is cited below.
“The preparation, contents, and distribution of any of the communications … must not include coordinated expenditures… communications…, or contributions.”
Code of Federal Regulations (FCR), Federal Elections (Title 11), Federal Election Commission (Chapter 1), General (Subchapter A), Corporate and Labor Organization Activity (Part 114), Disbursements for communications by corporations and labor organizations beyond the restricted class in connection with a Federal election (Section 4), Communications by a corporation or labor organization to the general public (Subsection C), General (1), Exceptions (last sentence).
Candidate Tr*mp clearly broke this law both with his own Org and with Pecker’s AMI, by coordinating payments, suppressing news, and in coordinating in-kind contributions, where the corporations were working to benefit him.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.