Dershowitz: Candidate Entitled To Pay Hush Money, Committed No Election Crime | Ian Schwartz – RCP
“ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Well, we don’t know. All we know is what Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said is when you put pressure on somebody like Cohen, there is an incentive to embellish the story and make it better because he’s now facing 4 years. So if he comes up with strong evidence against the president that will be reduced to 2 years, 3 years, or 1 year.
I have no idea whether Cohen is telling the truth or not, but the interesting thing is, if Cohen is telling the truth it’s a catch-22 for the prosecution. Let me lay this out for 60 seconds…
Here’s the issue: The president is entitled to pay hush money to anyone he wants during a campaign. There are no restrictions on what a candidate can contribute to his own campaign. So if, in fact, the president directed Cohen to do it as his lawyer and was going to compensate him for it, the president committed no crime. if Cohen did it on his own.
The president doesn’t break the law if, as a candidate, he contributes to his own campaign. So if he gave $1 million to two women as hush money, there would be in crime. If he directed his lawyer to do it, and he would compensate the lawyer, he’s committed no crime.
The only crime is if a third-party, namely, Cohen, on his own, contributed to a campaign, that would be a campaign contribution. So it is a catch-22 for the prosecution. iI they claim that the president authorized him to do it or directed him to do it, it is not a crime for anybody. If Cohen did it on his own, then it is a crime for Cohen but not the president.
This is going to be a very difficult case for the prosecution to make, precisely because the laws on election are so convoluted.”
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Dershowitz said this yesterday on MSNBC much to the shagrin of the host. They were hoping that he would say the President broke the Federal Election Laws and provide prosecutors a chance to say Trump is guilty.
The witch hunt that is ensuing in the Press and with the Mueller team has gone way past the original scope of whether the President colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary.
What we have learned is the other way around. Obama, his DOJ, FBI, the DNC, Clinton Campaign did try and subvert the 2016, emails have shown that.
If President Trump, declassifies the FISA warrants that were issued with false documents, we will most definitely see a former President, Clinton, Mueller [he was head of the FBI during this time] Comey and others face possible prosecution.
The American people are due the truth no matter where it leads. Presidents, lawmakers are paid by us, the taxpayer, they are no more special than anyone else and if they break the law, than they must pay the consequences!
