The Sham Cohen Plea Deal

by Rod D. Martin
August 22, 2018

I've thought a little about the sham Cohen plea deal.

It is very interesting to me that, when the prosecutors announced the deal, they highlighted all of the matters to which Cohen pled guilty...except one: the alleged campaign finance violation regarding Daniels and (supposedly) Trump.

Now there's a reason they glossed over it. And it might not be obvious if you're not paying awfully close attention.

Cohen did not plead guilty to paying Daniels (which was not a contribution, for reasons I'll get to in a moment). He pled guilty to "coordinating" that payment, which in fact is exactly what he did. Both Cohen and Trump have previously stated that Cohen was reimbursed for the payment.

Ignore for the moment that this was extortion by Daniels, of which Trump was the victim: that's not relevant to the point. The point is two-fold:

1. There were no contribution limits on Trump: he was allowed to spend as much on his campaign as he wanted. Contribution limits only ap…