Epoch Times: Former FEC Chairman: Trump Lawyer’s Hush Money Is Not a Campaign Contribution
By Ivan Pentchoukov
Payments used to silence people who have potentially damaging information on a political candidate cannot be classified as a campaign contribution, according to the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Bradley Smith.
“Not everything that might benefit a candidate is a campaign expense,” Bradley wrote in an editorial for the Wall Street Journal…
“If paying hush money is a campaign expense, a candidate would be required to make that payment with campaign funds,” Bradley said. “How ironic, given that using campaign funds as hush money was one of the articles of impeachment in the Watergate scandal, which gave rise to modern campaign-finance law.”…
“Many ardent anti-Trumpers sincerely believe that the president is a threat to the rule of law. The real threat to the rule of law, however, comes from abusing laws to ‘get’ a political opponent,” Bradley concluded. “Some matters are for voters to decide.”
