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Actually the path of the money is pretty complex. Trump supposedly paid a "retainer" to Michael Cohen of $35,000 per month to build up a slush fund to deal with any "problems" like Ms. Clifford (aka Ms. Daniels) and the former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. Cohen set up a shell company (an "LLC") to which the money was paid, and the shell company paid Ms. Clifford. This all fits with Cohen's characterization of the transaction as his "facilitating" the transfer of funds. Still that doesn't really jibe with Cohen's borrowing the $130K against the equity in his home as he has claimed publicly. Supposedly the slush fund had, at one point, more than $400K. Was there an even broader flurry of payoffs right before the election besides those to Clifford and McDougal? Inquiring minds want to know.,
All U.S. Federal candidates have the right to contribute as much of their own money as they want to their campaigns without any legal jeopardy. What's at issue here is what are called "in-kind" contributions. If I host a big soiree for a candidate rather than donate the funds directly, US law treats both contributions identically. For Michael Cohen, the issue is whether paying Clifford so close to the election constituted an in-kind contribution on his part. Since it is way in excess of the $2,700 legal limit, he could be charged with felony violation of the election laws. That's pretty unlikely in my mind. I suspect Cohen has a lot of baggage that was hiding in closets until the Feds showed up with that subpoena.
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