Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen previously was indicted on two criminal counts of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution and making an excessive campaign contribution. Cohen has pleaded guilty to both counts, but he says both payments were made in order to influence the elections. Both payments for elections put Trump at the center of attention, possibly implicating the president. Cohen explained that he attempted to influence the candidate’s election and act on behalf of the campaign through the Daniels payment, which puts him in legal issues. If the Trump Campaign paid the money themselves and disclosed the information then there would not be any legal implications. For the McDougal payment, Cohen agreed to pay the AMI in return for the AMI’s purchase of McDougal’s story. The organization’s refusal to run the story is fully legal, but a recording between Cohen and Trump regarding the AMI repayment complicates the situation. Although Cohen pleaded guilty, Trump still has the ability to cite personal expenses if he is indicted.
1. What makes Cohen’s payments against FEC regulation?
2. Even though the majority of the article is about Cohen, do you think Trump himself violated
campaign finance regulations?
3. Do you think Trump has the ability to pardon himself if he is indicted?
Joshua Ishimoto
ReplyDelete1. Cohen's payments constitute a violation FEC regulations for he made the payment to Daniels and McDougal "on the behalf of the campaign". specifically, he aside that he made the payments at the direction of then candidate Trump, whose campaign later reimbursed him for making the payment. If this was disclosed to the
FEC then it would have been perfectly legal, but the campaign did not. All this was therefore done to influence the election in secret which is illegal.
2. If it can proven that Trump himself directed Cohen to payoff Daniels and McDougal in order to protect his candidacy for President of the United States, then given that campaign funds were used for it without disclosure to the FEC Trump violated campaign finance law. I think that Trump may at one time or another coordinated with AMI to prevent the publication of these stories. He probably didn't act as a central commander of the effort for it would require not only explicit intent but also direct ruling over the details of the plan which I very much doubt that Trump would fuse over if h could get Cohen to worry about such. Still, a violation of federal campaign finance laws is what it is and he probably is directly implicated in some of the violations.
3. That is a question that will surely keep all constitutional lawyers and judges up at night. I don't think Trump can do that because even though the Constitution says that the president's pardoning powers are basically unlimited, the Constitution is a document up for modern interpretation. The nightmarish scenario of Trump pardoning himself for violation of any law would not only be an admission of guilt, but would be a flagrant disregard for the rule of law. The Constitution says what it says, but I find it very hard to think that the public would not make a reasonable exception for the President pardoning himself. In such a case a constitutional crisis would arise, scarring the office of the presidency for years to come.
Clara Kennedy
ReplyDelete1. Cohen’s payments are against FEC regulation because the payments were made “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” and they were not funded through legal donors that were properly disclosed. Had the payments been reported and funded through legal pathways, the payments would have been perfectly legal. However, since the payments were a secret attempt to directly influence the election, they are against FEC regulation.
2. I believe that Donald Trump did violate campaign finance regulations because he expressly approved payments to two women in an attempt to keep damaging information out of the media until after the election. Although Trump denies coordinating with the AMI directly, it is highly likely that Cohen acted with Trump’s direction, which still leaves Trump partially responsible for soliciting and approving an illegal corporate contribution from the AMI. Additionally, Trump likely helped coordinate the reimbursement of Cohen by the Trump Organization for the Daniels payments, which would count as violations of campaign finance regulations since he is responsible for the Trump Organization and his campaign and their acceptance of illegal corporate contributions. However, one must prove that Trump did coordinate with Cohen in order to link Trump to the payments. While Trump has denied any connection, he has set a precedent for his lack of truthfulness and therefore trust deserved, and statements made my Cohen when under oath suggest that Trump was highly connected to both payments.
3. While it is certainly up for debate among experts of constitutional interpretations, I do not believe that Trump has the ability to pardon himself if he is indicted. The logic behind Trump having the ability to pardon himself makes little sense, forgiving himself for his crimes is essentially stating that he is indeed guilty. Additionally, given the fact that the president is not allowed to pardon cases of impeachment, implying that Trump is not allowed to pardon himself in general since a charge of impeachment would likely be based on a similar possible indictment. Although it is unlikely that Trump will be officially indicted, I do not believe he would have the power to pardon himself should the situation arise. Ultimately, it will be up to the Supreme Court to analyze whether or not the Constitution prohibits a president from pardoning oneself.
1. The thing that makes Cohen's payments against FEC regulation is the fact that the payments were made in order to support Trump's campaign. Because the payments were made for the campaign the problem is the fact that they were not properly disclosed.
ReplyDelete2. I believe that Donald Trump did violate campaign finance regulations as he was the one responsible for Cohen's payments to these two women. These payments, as Cohen said, were made to prevent them from spreading their stories in order to strengthen Trump's campaign. In this case, the fact that the payments were not disclosed is what is violates the campaign finance regulations. The only thing that may change the view on Trump violating the campaign finance regulations is if the payment was made to prevent damage to his own image but not in order to prevent damage to his campaign.
3. I believe that Trump should not have the ability to pardon himself of his own crimes even when the Constitution may state otherwise. The fact that he would have to pardon himself would mean that he is in fact guilty but simply removes the charges he would have received. This type of ability would provide the president with even more power as his own crimes would be unpunished. So in order to be able to hold the president responsible for his crimes he would have to not be able to pardon his own crimes.
1. Cohen's payments are against FEC regulation because they were made to support Trump's campaign and they were not part of the donations that were properly disclosed.
ReplyDelete2. Trump violates campaign finance regulations because he was responsible for Cohen's payments to these two women. The payments were made to support Trump's campaign by preventing these stories from spreading and making Trump look bad. Basically since the payments were not disclosed to the FEC, the payments are illegal according to FEC regulations.
3. Trump should not have the ability to pardon himself because he would not be taking responsible for his own crimes while the rest of the US has to. And if he were to pardon himself, he would be admitting to being guilty but not having to take action for his crimes. This would just lower his approval rating more and the role of President would be seen as corrupt for future Presidents (especially since things don't get done often). The Supreme Court should have the overall last say on what should happen with Trump if the evidence connects to Trump
ReplyDelete1. What makes Cohen’s payments against FEC regulation?
Cohen’s payments go against FEC regulation because they were used to influence the election and protect Trump’s public image. Additionally, Cohen illegally obtained the money to fund his payments and was paid back by Trump over time. Because Trump did not make the payments “with legally contributed donations and reported it”, Cohen’s payments go against FEC regulation.
2. Even though the majority of the article is about Cohen, do you think Trump himself violated
campaign finance regulations?
I think Trump violated campaign finance regulations because he clearly wanted to save his public image by covering up anything that would hinder his campaign and election. Trump probably instructed Cohen to make the payments to the AMI and prevent the stories that would hurt Trump’s image from being published. Although Trump could deny any collaboration with Cohen or the AMI with trying to buy the scandalous stories, if it could be proven that he did, then Trump would have definitely violated campaign finance regulations. Also, Trump could avoid the blame by saying that those purchases were a result of a personal purpose, rather than for campaign purposes.
3. Do you think Trump has the ability to pardon himself if he is indicted?
I think Trump should not have the ability to pardon himself if he is indicted because that would give him too much power. If he were to pardon himself, that would set the precedent for further and future corruption among Presidents, as they would be able to get away with a lot of corrupt behavior. Additionally, this would be an abuse and imbalance of power in the government, as the President would be able to do something no one else is able to do. As pardoning oneself is unfair, the decision to see if he would be pardoned if he were indicted would go to the Supreme Court.
Joey Zhang
ReplyDelete1. Cohen's payments violate FEC's regulations because the payments were made in order to support Trump's campaign and they were not reported. If the payments were reported, it would've been perfectly legal, but instead, they were kept a secret to influence the election, which is against FEC regulations.
2. I believe that Trump violated campaign finance regulations since he was responsible for Cohen's payments as he told Cohen to pay them. Furthermore, these payments were made to strengthen Trump's campaign and keep the women from saying anything that would potentially damage his reputation. This secrecy, as stated before, violates FEC regulations as they weren't disclosed to them.
3. I don't believe Trump has the ability to pardon himself if he is indicted. If he were to pardon himself, Trump would be admitting that he is guilty and he did in fact commit those crimes. This would ultimately lower his reputation. Not only this, but Trump could potentially face impeachment, a form of indictment, and its unpardonable. This implies that Trump, if he does face impeachment, wouldn't be able to pardon himself anyways. However, this is purely hypothetical. Ultimately, the Supreme Court has the final say as to whether President Trump can or can't pardon himself.
1. Cohen’s payments are against FEC regulation because he used funds that are campaign money to pay Daniels in a non disclosure act. Since this wasn’t reported obviously because nobody was to know of this agreement, it is technically against campaign finance laws, which require these to be disclosed. They were also payments that could influence the election which definitely had to be reported.
ReplyDelete2. Since Trump probably made Cohen write the nondisclosure agreement, I think he would be responsible for the campaign violations, but Cohen is getting in trouble because that would hurt Trump's reputation even more. He wanted to protect his reputation to win presidency which is why he ordered Cohen to the nondisclosure agreement. Therefore, I feel like he is responsible for theses violations of campaign finance laws. That is assuming that Trump asked him to present the campaign finance law.
3. I don’t think that Trump should be able to pardon himself because it doesn’t make sense that one person can pardon oneself. It would break the checks and balances of the US government. But, I heard that he technically is able to, but even according to him, he says that he wouldn’t have the need to because he didn’t do anything wrong. Pardoning himself shows that he is above the law and that he doesn’t have to face any repercussions for his actions. Having the need to pardon himself would show that he actually had broken the law before and that it could reveal more about his character.
Cohen violates the FEC regulation because he used campaign funds to pay Daniels in a non-disclosure act. There is plausible evidence that the payments affect the 2016 election.
ReplyDeleteTrump did not violate campaign financing regulations, as there is not concrete evidence. If there was, it depends on the reason Trump would give: was it to hush her so she did not reveal anything to the public, or was it to protect his family from the affair? Hmm... It is very likely he plays a role in the non-disclosure agreement, however there was no solid evidence against him.
I don't think Trump has the ability to pardon himself, however a standing president has never been charged. Nixon stepped down before there was any significant action. Yet, it also depends on SCOTUS. We will see!
1. Cohen's payments potentially violated FEC regulation because the payments may have been in order to influence his presidential campaign. It would have been illegal if this was the intent because he did not disclose the payments to the FEC as is regulation.
ReplyDelete2. It is very hard to believe that Trump was not at the very least complicit in the violations of FEC regulations. It is hard to imagine a situation in which Cohen makes this agreement behind Trump's back without Trump at the very least being aware or figuring it out eventually.
3. Trump obviously has the power, but there is also no legal precedent which could change if Trump ever pardons himself. At this moment, legally speaking there is nothing to say that Trump cannot pardon himself.
ReplyDelete1. What makes Cohen’s payments against FEC regulation?
He made payments on behalf of the campaign.
2. Even though the majority of the article is about Cohen, do you think Trump himself violated
campaign finance regulations?
Most likely, yes.
3. Do you think Trump has the ability to pardon himself if he is indicted?
He's stupid enough to try, it's up the courts to see if he can, which is unlikely.