Let’s also remember that the Steele dossier was at least partially paid for by a Democratic National Committee law firm that reportedly was used as a cut-out on the FEC forms. And it is settled law that the ultimate recipient, not an intermediary, must be disclosed in such cases along with the proper use category. Yet, this complaint has wended its way slowly through the FEC. The law firm has not been raided by prosecutors, lawyer confidentiality has not been broken under the grounds that “oppo” research is not legal work. No one is pleading guilty to felonies.
What revelation would have had greater impact on transparency in the election — that Democrats had paid a British spy to gather dirt on Trump from Russia, or that Trump had a consensual one-night affair?
Perhaps the biggest difference between oppo research and paying for nondisclosure of an affair is that one is definitely a campaign expense and the other is a personal expense not covered by election law. When prosecutors brought a similar case against former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), they failed to get a conviction and it came out that FEC auditors had determined that the payments from donors to his mistress were not a campaign expense at all.
Cohen’s pleas concocted by prosecutors to snare Trump
What revelation would have had greater impact on transparency in the election — that Democrats had paid a British spy to gather dirt on Trump from Russia, or that Trump had a consensual one-night affair?
Perhaps the biggest difference between oppo research and paying for nondisclosure of an affair is that one is definitely a campaign expense and the other is a personal expense not covered by election law. When prosecutors brought a similar case against former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), they failed to get a conviction and it came out that FEC auditors had determined that the payments from donors to his mistress were not a campaign expense at all.
Cohen’s pleas concocted by prosecutors to snare Trump
