CAMPAIGN FINANCE/LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/OBAMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Monday [12-10-18] sought to downplay the campaign-finance crimes of his former attorney Michael Cohen by returning to a theme he’s sounded before: Comparing Cohen’s actions to a civil violation of federal election law by President Barack Obama’s first campaign. Legal experts say there’s no comparison between the two. In a series of early morning tweets Monday, Trump asserted Cohen’s payments to silence two women who claimed affairs with him amounted to a ‘simple private transaction’ rather than illegal campaign contributions. But even if the payments had been campaign contributions, he argued, they should result in a ‘CIVIL CASE like Obama’s’ and any blame should fall on Cohen, not him…Richard Hasen, an election-law expert at the University of California at Irvine, said Cohen’s action and the civil fine Obama paid over technical violations are ‘not in the same league.'”
–Fredreka Schouten, “Trump says Cohen’s guilty plea is like the Obama campaign’s civil fine. There’s no comparison, experts say.,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, December 10, 2018 8:08 pm