News Clips

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?"

“Large amounts of foreign national donations to a politically active nonprofit could be a red flag to IRS staff that could trigger greater scrutiny,” Paul S. Ryan, vice president at the watchdog group Common Cause said. “But such red flags will no longer be visible to IRS staff. President Trump’s Treasury Department has struck a blow to US democracy with this rule change.”

"All sides play the game," said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. "The world we live in these days."