The Washington Post:New evidence the Stormy Daniels payment may have violated election law

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One short, newly revealed email from a Manhattan banker just made it much more likely that the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election violated federal law.

NBC News on Friday reported that Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime ally and attorney, had used a Trump Organization email address as he worked to secure the payment to Daniels. Daniels alleges the money was paid to keep her from telling the media about a sexual relationship she had with Trump; Cohen and Trump continue to deny that relationship.

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Those two things together — that a Trump Organization email address was used to facilitate the payment and that the payment was linked to the campaign — would constitute a legal violation. The email from the bank to Cohen does not prove that company funds were used to pay Daniels, which Noble told us last month would itself be illegal. Just using that email address is its own problem.

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“The use of the Trump Organization email is evidence that Cohen’s services were, at least in part, being paid for by the Trump Organization,” Noble said in an email. “That would be an illegal corporate contribution to the campaign even if the company did not pay the $130,000.”

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