Plus: The difference between conservatives and libertarians, Utah Supreme Court upholds sex changes on birth certificates, and more…
Blast from the past. The saga of former President Donald Trump paying adult entertainer Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair—and Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged the payment, going to prison for it —seems like it happened a lifetime ago at this point. But the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has only now announced a decision to formally drop the matter, which the agency had been exploring as a possible violation of election law. To refresh your memory: Shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 and funneled $150,000 through the National Enquirer to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The payments were meant to keep tales of these women’s trysts with Trump from getting out. Cohen would later admit to making these payments (“I felt it was my duty to cover up [Trump’s] dirty deeds,” Cohen said) and be sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison for tax evasion, lying to Congress, and campaign finance law violation. Trump initially claimed to know nothing about the payments. Later he copped to their existence but noted that he paid Cohen with his own money, not campaign funds, and swore that this was “a simple private transaction,” not a criminal violation. Whether it was really the former or the latter is indeed “a little dicey,” as Trump put it to Fox News back in 2018. Reason ‘s Jacob Sullum delved into the finer legal points here and here. “In December 2020, the F.E.C. issued an internal report from its Office of General Counsel on how to proceed in its review. The office said it had found ‘reason to believe’ violations of campaign finance law were made ‘knowingly and willfully’ by the Trump campaign,” The New York Times reports. But the commissioners ultimately decided not to go forward with proceedings against Trump, announcing that decision yesterday. Two FEC commissioners—both Democrats—had voted to go forward with the case, while two Republican commissioners voted to dismiss.
