According to Cohen, Trump ordered him to make payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels going into the 2016 presidential campaign. But he argued the purpose and origin of the payments could be in dispute, and that's what determines whether a campaign-finance violation was committed. "Convicting Donald Trump of a criminal campaign finance violation will be extremely difficult, if not impossible," he wrote. Bradley Smith, a former FEC chairman from 2000-2005, said it was a “relatively easy case” to argue that Trump and Cohen did not commit a campaign-finance violation. “That would just make Cohen’s payment a loan to the Trump campaign.

Source: Fox News December 14, 2018 15:33 UTC