News Clips

In March, the advocacy group Common Cause alleged that Cambridge Analytica -- the firm that, through a U.K. affiliate, obtained personal data on up to 87 million Facebook users as part of its work for the Trump campaign -- violated election law by letting foreign nationals participate in the U.S. political decision-making process. Common Cause made its complaint to the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department.

Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Election Commission, claiming Trump broke the law when his campaign excluded details about the $130,000 payment in legally mandated filings. Trump’s acknowledgment that he reimbursed Cohen puts the president “at the middle of all of the campaign finance violations,” said Paul S. Ryan, head of litigation at Common Cause. “He knowingly and willfully caused his campaign to not disclose this expenditure, and that’s a criminal violation.”

Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, said the decision has bearing on the Trump matter. Common Cause has filed complaints with the DOJ and FEC alleging that “violations by Trump, Cohen … and others of the same statutes violated in the criminal convictions upheld by the Eighth Circuit in this case,” he said in an email. Ryan added: “The Eighth Circuit’s decision makes clear that when you lie to the federal government about election spending, you can be prosecuted and convicted not only for violating campaign finance law reporting requirements, but also multiple other federal criminal statutes that prohibit making false statements and filing false paperwork with the government.”  

Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause vice president of policy and litigation, discusses the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 election.

Trump’s lawyer Giuliani admits that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Paul S. Ryan, VP of Policy and Litigation for Common Cause, a watchdog investigating the payment as a potential campaign finance violation, tells The Beat Giuliani’s comments strongly suggest the payment was “all about the election”.

If Trump knew about Cohen's payment to Daniels but didn't disclose it on his campaign's filings with the Federal Election Commission, that could amount to a "knowing and willful" violation of election law and a criminal statute that prohibits making false statements to the government, said Paul Ryan, a top lawyer with Common Cause, which has sought federal investigations into the payoff. ... Ryan, the Common Cause lawyer, said the new development changes little about group's pending complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department about the payoff to Daniels. "All of the facts support the conclusion that this was about the campaign," he said.