Lawrence Noble, former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission, suggested that Trump’s actions put him at risk.
“If Trump on his own, or through Cohen, coordinated with AMI to buy her story to prevent it from coming out and hurting his campaign, then he solicited and accepted an illegal corporate contribution from AMI,” Noble said. That’s a violation of federal law.
Moreover, Noble noted, the reimbursement by the Trump Organization for the Daniels payment was itself problematic.
“If Trump authorized or coordinated the Trump Organization reimbursing Cohen for the Daniels payments,” Noble said, “then he is liable for the company making, and his campaign accepting, illegal corporate contributions.”
Richard Hasen, election law expert at the University of California at Irvine, agreed. Hasen said that Cohen’s violations could pose “liability on behalf of the campaign and liability on behalf of the Trump Organization, but there’s potential that Trump himself could be personally liable for conspiring to engage in this activity.”
“If the Justice Department were dealing with an ordinary case not dealing with the president, it sounds like he [Trump] could potentially be charged with a crime,” he added.