How to pay a porn star (If you really have to)

We’ve all been there.

You are running for federal office. The competition is heating up. The election was tight. But you did well. Then Whammo: A Porn Star informed you that she was going to tell the world that you had an extramarital affair with her a few months after your wife gave birth to your youngest child.

What do you do?

Of course you paid her.

don’t be in a hurry Perhaps you should decline and ignore—a particularly tempting choice if it’s a lie or questionable claim that most people, including your wife, don’t find credible. Joe Biden did this in 2020 and get rewarded

But you’re not Joe Biden. You’re a self-centered woman with a history of adultery and allegations of sexual misconduct. worse A day before this porn star approaches you. The world learned that—at the time of this scandal—you were even caught on tape bragging about how popular you were. You could do “whatever” you want with girls, like “just start kissing them” or “Catch them pussy”

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Your political allies, many of whom have their eyes on your candidate, begin to retreat. The party leader condemned you. And some officials demanded that you be removed from the race. You have been dissed by your own runners. You also apologized for that behavior the day before. by publicly swearing that “Tomorrow will be a better man.”

The election is just a few weeks away. You can hardly survive. You can’t tell a woman to be disappointed. and the clock is running out You still have a lot of money and no shame.

So you pay her

But how do you do it? Is it legal or not? if so Is there any way it might be illegal? You don’t want anyone breaking the law, do you?

This is a hassle at Donald. Trump found it for himself when he allegedly ordered his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to buy Stormi Daniels’ silence and then reimburse him with a specified company fund. that is “Legal costs” for the confiscation are non-existent.

Federal prosecutors called the project illegal. Cohen was sentenced to prison for pleading guilty to his role and implicating Trump directly. rump And the Trump Organization is violating campaign finance laws.

Legal experts told The Daily Beast the project raised issues. Obvious violations are also identified in filings with Cohen and the FEC General Counsel.

Although anonymous “silence” settlements are not illegal, But these experts say Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization planned an unlawful deal today, a deal for which Trump is not legally responsible. Unlike Cohen It appears poised to prosecute the former U.S. president for the first time (although those Manhattan prosecutors may have to take a spirited stride to beat other contenders with serious cases against Trump).

Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance law expert who filed the first FEC petition regarding payments Explain settings

“Federal law defines campaign expenses as money spent for the purpose of influencing an election. These silent payments are clearly and proving to be intended to influence elections. So it’s clearly a political expense under federal law. They will never be created. but for the upcoming elections That is proof that these things are political,” Ryan said.

“under the law Such payments from Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization constitute a gratuitous donation, ‘anything of value’ given to a candidate,” he continued. “These payments meet those definitions. that”

Brendan Fischer, campaign finance law expert And the deputy executive director of watchdog group Documented told The Daily Beast that transparency was at the heart of the scandal.

“One of the cornerstones of electoral law is that voters have the right to know who they vote for. How did those candidates spend their money? And what are they doing to get elected,” Fischer said. “These payments made voters ignorant of the allegations. But the fact that Trump paid to do that.”

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However, Fischer said “There are several legal ways that Trump can make payments without tipping voters.”

When Trump was given the first chance to negotiate an NDA with Daniels, He had a few options. He can pay for her himself. He can let someone else handle the payment and pay it back later. Or he can pay her through a campaign.

The most obvious and surprising legal route is campaigning.

“In 2020, Trump has pioneered a unique way of hiding where campaign money is going,” Fischer pointed out, referring to Shell, which manages nearly a billion dollars in campaign money. “If he went that route in 2016, not only would we probably never know about secret payments to ex-porn stars. But he probably won’t be prosecuted either.”

If Trump used donor money to pay Daniels and if the campaign properly discloses that expense He can structure it as a legal transaction. The difference, of course, is that it will also be public. But even if limited

First of all, the campaign is likely to make payments to law firms, not to Daniels directly, and questions. In fact, the Trump campaign has paid this way several times, including in 2016, with some of the arbitration fees appearing in the FEC report.

Some legal experts argue that if Trump actually paid with donor money, it could also be construed as illegal. Converting campaign money into personal use (Individual expenses may occur. To that point, some Trump defenders cited the fact that Daniels first tried to sell her story in 2011, years before the campaign.

However, Daniels was also shown in the context of the presidential campaign. While Trump is entertaining the public about the potential 2012 action, Daniels agreed to continue the story. life and style in April 2011, and Trump canceled the next month’s bid. The magazine pulled Daniels the same month. And Trump associates have also been accused of harassing her.

Brett Kappel, a campaign finance expert at Harmon Curran, noted that the fact that Trump isn’t being paid through the campaign “is a big deal.” “Quite surprising” considering that history.

“Quite surprisingly, he didn’t use a law firm to cover up campaign payments to Daniels as a legal settlement,” Kappel told The Daily Beast. Campaigned in 2016 and continues to this day.

He added that the decision “Probably because the payout has to be done quickly before the election.”

Those campaign settlements, for example, last year’s $303,000 lawsuit. It appears to be related to the NDA campaign, which the court finds so broad that The agreement with Daniels was ruled unenforceable, and in 2020, a court ordered Trump to pay Daniels $44,100 in attorneys’ fees.

Ryan said In such a case, FEC shall not, in FEC’s eyes, list the agreements paid to law firms as “Legal fees” for disclosure purposes, like Kappel, have also been filed by Trump. the route regularly

“It’s a different question than the one claiming you paid Cohen a ‘cure’ for ongoing legal services that were never retained,” he notes.

Fischer noted that Although voters and journalists saw payments made to law firms with vague descriptions. But such a revelation “Presumably the story behind the payment was not disclosed.”

Moreover With the FEC filing schedule, citizens will not know before the election.

If the payment went through when Daniels first approached Cohen on Oct. 8—or any time until Oct. 19—the transaction would appear in the pre-match report. general election campaign It will be published on Oct. 27 ahead of the election. But the actual payments made on Oct. 26 will appear in the general report in December.

It was unclear whether any campaign officials advised Cohen about the payout. It’s not clear if anyone in the campaign other than Trump and Cohen knew about it. Cohen’s billing information opened that possibility. referring to the coordination with “One or more members of the Campaign”

“If Trump tried to do this right from the beginning, Everything would turn out very different,” says Ryan. “They probably avoided the domino cycle that put him where he is today.”