News Clips

“Democracy is not supposed to be the sport of kings and billionaires,” said Stephen Spaulding, chief of strategy and external affairs for Common Cause. “Notwithstanding the Koch-Trump feud, the Koch network continues to exert enormous influence over public policy and the Republican Party at the federal and state levels.”

The investigation must follow the evidence wherever it leads. The American people are entitled to answers and accountability. With the approaching elections, Americans are closely watching how Congress will respond to this latest effort to subvert the rule of law.

“Denials and tweets in all caps do not make campaign finance violations go away,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause.

Put differently, as Common Cause’s Paul S. Ryan told me via email, “If the earlier reporting that AMI consulted with Cohen (an ‘agent’ of candidate Trump) before making the payment to McDougal is correct, then AMI’s payment to McDougal was a political expenditure ‘coordinated’ with Trump.” He continued, “Coordinated expenditures are treated as in-kind contributions under campaign finance law and corporations are prohibited from contributing to federal candidates, so AMI’s payment to McDougal [would be] an illegal corporate contribution to Trump.” Indeed, this was the basis for complaints that Common Cause filed earlier this year with the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission.

"What did Donald Trump know and when did he know it?” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, which has filed complaints with the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission. “Did Donald Trump knowingly violate campaign finance law, and did he commit a crime?"

"Without allowing candidates to pay themselves, the only people who could afford to run for public office would be independently wealthy individuals who can afford to take a year off from making a living in order to run," Paul S. Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation at the watchdog group Common Cause said.