“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly,” the letter read.
A 2018 letter from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s team to officials at the Federal Election Commission has revealed that the then-president was not involved in the payment of alleged “hush money” to Stormy Daniels.
The letter, obtained by the Daily Mail, stated that it was Cohen who paid Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket.
Cohen’s team went on to explain that, “neither Mr. Cohen nor Essential Consultants LLC made any in-kind contributions to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., or any other presidential campaign committee,” nor was Cohen a government employee at the time.
Thus, they argued, “the payment in question does not constitute a campaign contribution or expenditure and, therefore, the FEC lacks jurisdiction over this matter.”
