If There’s No Collusion, There’s Always Stormy Daniels
By Rich Lowry
December 14, 2018 6:30 AM
Indicting Trump on campaign finance charges is a Democratic revenge fantasy.
The most legally fraught part of the Russia probe now revolves around payments to an American porn star.
As of yet, instead of a dastardly scheme to participate with the Russians in the hacking of Democratic emails to subvert the election, prosecutors have uncovered a dastardly scheme to try to keep from the voters — as if they weren’t aware — that Trump is a womanizer.
The advantage of the story of the hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal is that they actually happened, and always passed the plausibility test. To credit the payoffs, it didn’t require believing in a well-coordinated scheme between a foreign intelligence service and the most shambolic presidential campaign of the modern era. All it took was imagining Donald Trump, Michael Cohen and a checkbook.
Everyone should agree that the payments were sleazy. But that’s not the live issue. Because Democrats want to see Trump impeached or even jailed, the question is whether he can be successfully prosecuted for the payments after leaving office.
The law, and common sense, suggest the answer is “no.â€
more
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/trump-payments-to-mistresses-not-criminal-not-campaign-contributions/