Michael Cohen Didn’t Actually Violate Federal Campaign Laws. Here’s Why.

Hey, Michael Cohen: You actually didn’t violate that election law.

Cohen, the president’s former attorney, agreed to two counts of campaign finance law violations last week. First is that he violated the law against making corporate contributions, and second, that he knowingly violated the law against making excessive personal contributions.

He did not need to agree to either of these.

The corporate contribution charge goes like this: The National Enquirer was approached by a woman selling a story about Donald Trump. Cohen and the Enquirer discussed it, and Cohen agreed to reimburse the paper if it bought it. The paper did buy it, but Cohen didn’t.

The Justice Department, in what must be a brand new theory, says Cohen violated the law because he caused a corporation (i.e. the National Enquirer) to make an in-kind contribution to benefit the Trump campaign.

Putting aside that no campaign money actually changed hands here (and it is hard to put that aside), it is not a violation of campaign finance law to cause someone else’s corporation to spend money.

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