USA Today Quotes Trevor Potter on Potential Campaign Finance Violation Linked to Stormy Daniels Payment

President Trump and his new lawyer Rudy Giuliani may have exposed the president to legal risk by acknowledging that Trump reimbursed his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 used to silence porn star Stormy Daniels, campaign-finance watchdogs said Thursday.

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Trevor Potter, president of the Campaign Legal Center watchdog group and a former Federal Election Commission chairman, said reports of the reimbursement might not let Cohen off the hook, either.

The lawyer still likely violated election law by "fronting" $130,000 to the Trump campaign — which would have amounted to an excessive, illegal campaign contribution at the time, Potter said. (Individuals cannot donate more than $2,700 to a federal candidate for a primary or general election.)

Potter argued Trump's campaign then broke the rules by accepting the money and not disclosing it. In addition, he noted Trump failed to report any loans from Michael Cohen on a personal financial-disclosure form the president filed last year with a separate agency, the Office of Government Ethics. The law requires him to disclose any loan larger than $10,000.

"With this latest explanation, President Trump finds himself between something of a rock and a hard place," Potter said in a statement.

Mr. Potter also leads the Political Law Group at Caplin & Drysdale.

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Excerpt taken from the article “Trump Could Face More Legal Trouble After Confirming He Repaid Michael Cohen, Watchdogs Say” by Fredreka Schouten for USA Today.