Looking at that diagram, it lays out an obscure pathway to ensnare a politician into a in-kind campaign donation violation. The campaign has no control over how much, from whom or when the campaign donation occurs until after the fact. A donor could value an in kind donation of services at any figure, despite what the actual dollar payout to others actually was. The hush money payment could be a small fraction of the actual value of the services package donated to a campaign.
Regardless of who pays, the payment of hush-money to influence the outcome of an election is not legal in NY State or federally (campaign finance law). Reported or not, the hush-money payments are statutory in-kind campaign donations. They must be properly reported/recorded as campaign donations. The hush payment by Cohen exceeds the legal donation limit ($2,700). The payments were not reported by donor or by campaign- that's not legal. Motive exists to influence outcome of election. Motive exists to hide the hush-money NDA arrangement(s) from the public, and motive exists again, to hide those hush-money misdemeanor with false business records. MOO
The congressional sex impropriety slush fund has been mentioned. Do the beneficiaries of the slush fund monies fill out in kind campaign donation forms with the fec?
Congressional slush fund - not gonna address - don't know and seems a red-herring/irrelevant here IMO.
Disagree that either of the diagrams relies on the "pathway to ensnare a politician into an in-kind campaign donation". Campaign finance illegalities are present, but an additional issue that is not included in charges at this time.
The charts depict an attorney-produced chart that flushes out concepts that might explain what Prosecution's theory(s) might be. The charts reference campaign violations, but neither chart relies on campaign violations.
The first chart uses only NY state law.
The second chart identifies Federal law the Prosecution may choose to argue along with the NY state law.
First level false records - misdemeanor.
Both diagrams identify the Trump entities creating (cover-up) false record of Cohen's invoices as the first level falsified records misdemeanor. This is solid, simple NY State Statuatory Law; a False business financial record (checks/accounting books) is a misdemeanor.
Second level false records - felony.
Both diagrams show the bumping-level of the (cover-up) false records are the reimbursements to Cohen for Cohen's sham invoices. These false records are a felony. This is also solid, simple NY State Statutory Law; a False record made with the intent of covering an underlying misdemeanor is no longer a misdemeanor, but a felony.
Charges on the Indictment - based on Second level false records - felony.
Each record paying Cohen is a felony. 34 of them. In NY State, the Prosecution is required to identify the underlying crime (here the 1st level misdemeanors) that bumps-up each Cohen payment to a felony charge.
The diagrams detail other crimes and laws broken in this "catch and kill scheme", however these are additional "guessing the theory" comments. By NY Statute, None of the
"other" detailed crimes need to be charged or proven - in order to successfully prosecute the 34 false record felonies. Some
"other" crimes include: the conspiracy w/ several catch and kill schemes, the conspiracy to falsify records, various campaign finance law violations, or other false record crimes.
The DA mentioned some "other" crimes, but has not brought charges based on these "others". He mentions them for context. For intent, for motive. With organized planning. Defense can add/refine charges through this early process of back and forth.
The bottom line is that the 34 felony false record charges stand on their own. The underlying misdemeanors are also false records; in NY, they don't need to be tried to bump the next false records to felony level from misdemeanor.
Any other related/underlying crimes are mentioned as explanations, intent, organization, and motives for the cover-up. But so far those underlying items (e.g. conspiracy, campaign finance) are are not being prosecuted.
www.nbcnews.com
www.foxnews.com
www.rollingstone.com
www.politico.com
thehill.com
