Washington Post: FEC spares Trump but fines tabloid publisher for hush-money payment to ex-Playboy model who claimed affair with him

06.1.2021 / By Felicia Sonmez
Washington Post: FEC spares Trump but fines tabloid publisher for hush-money payment to ex-Playboy model who claimed affair with him

Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause’s vice president for policy and litigation, hailed the news as “a win for democracy.” But he argued that the FEC’s “failure to hold former-President Trump and his campaign accountable for this violation lays bare the dysfunction at the FEC.” He noted that the decision comes on the heels of a similar decision by the agency to drop an inquiry into whether Trump violated campaign finance laws when Cohen paid adult-film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the days leading up to the 2016 election. “The agency has again shown itself incapable of fully enforcing the campaign finance laws passed by Congress,” Ryan said in a statement.

The Federal Election Commission has fined the National Enquirer’s parent company $187,500 for “knowingly and willfully” violating election law by making a payment in 2016 to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with former president Donald Trump years before he was elected.

The decision came in response to a complaint made more than three years ago by the nonprofit government watchdog group Common Cause, which was notified of the FEC’s findings Tuesday.

The group had alleged that the company’s $150,000 payment to McDougal months before the 2016 election was effectively an illegal in-kind corporate contribution to Trump’s presidential campaign. The payment allegedly benefited Trump’s campaign by suppressing McDougal’s story of an alleged relationship with Trump before voters went to the polls.

The FEC found in May that American Media Inc. and its former chief executive David Pecker violated campaign finance law, according to documents the agency released Tuesday to Common Cause. The payment was made in consultation with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, the agency found.

But the six-member commission — which often deadlocks along partisan lines — did not have sufficient votes to find that Trump and his campaign also broke the law.

Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause’s vice president for policy and litigation, hailed the news as “a win for democracy.” But he argued that the FEC’s “failure to hold former-President Trump and his campaign accountable for this violation lays bare the dysfunction at the FEC.”

He noted that the decision comes on the heels of a similar decision by the agency to drop an inquiry into whether Trump violated campaign finance laws when Cohen paid adult-film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the days leading up to the 2016 election.

“The agency has again shown itself incapable of fully enforcing the campaign finance laws passed by Congress,” Ryan said in a statement. …

Ryan noted that Cohen served time in prison for lying to Congress, breaking campaign finance laws and tax evasion, but Trump has not faced any consequences.

“The Department of Justice has until August to prosecute Trump for orchestrating this illegal campaign finance scheme,” he said.

See More: Abuse of PowerCampaign FinanceTrump Administration/Executive Ethics