Campaign Finance

“Nothing is 100 percent guaranteed in Albany,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a government reform group. But she added: “I think it would be very very difficult for people who were elected on the promise that they were going to heed the voice of the voter, to then turn around and just have it be old-fashioned Albany business as usual.”

In Common Cause’s five-decade history, we have held both Democrats and Republicans accountable. We do this because of moments like this, when one party has moved so far in the wrong direction that it seems like democracy reform is a partisan issue. It is not, and we shouldn’t let Republican leaders in Congress make it one.

“The FEC has found violations significantly larger in amount than the two Trump hush payments, and has a few more complaints still pending that allege much larger amounts in violation,” said Paul Ryan, an election law expert at Common Cause.

OVERBY: But at the watchdog group Common Cause, attorney Paul Seamus Ryan disagrees. He said Edwards seemed to be trying to hide the affair from his wife. By contrast, Ryan said, Cohen, Daniels, McDougal and the publisher all seemed to agree on one thing. PAUL SEAMUS RYAN: Everyone involved in this matter, except for Donald Trump, who's on the record so far has said the purpose was to influence the election. There was no ambiguity. There is no doubt. OVERBY: Ryan had a fact to add. RYAN: Hey, this wasn't Cohen and Trump's first rodeo. They've had a brush with this area of campaign finance law in the past.

For campaign finance watchdogs, its just the latest example of the "charade" of the "purported non-candidacy," as Paul S. Ryan of Common Cause has put it, where people whom we all know are running for president avoid admitting to set their own timeline for an announcement, regardless of the what the rules say.

President Trump has been comparing the hush money payments made during his campaign to those made by John Edwards. Kristen Welker is joined by Vice President for Policy and Litigation at Common Cause, Paul Ryan, to discuss how the president’s situation compares to Edwards’ case and why that might not help him at all. Duration: 7:50