Raw Story reports:
According to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen set up a separate LLC called Essential Consultants in October 2016 that he used as a vehicle to pay off Daniels in exchange for remaining silence about her past affair with the president, which occurred shortly after his wife Melania had given birth to their son, Barron Trump.
Given that the payment made from the Trump campaign to Trump Tower Commercial LLC was for roughly the same amount that Essential Consultants LLC paid to Daniels — and given the fact that the payout occurred just one month after the 2016 presidential election ended — this transaction is sure to raise questions over whether campaign funds were used to cover the costs of paying off a porn star.
President Trump is accused of paying $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to hide an affair a month before the election. In what is probably just a coincidence, the Trump campaign transferred $130K to the Trump businesses a month after the election. pic.twitter.com/KKknIC9ClC
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 23, 2018
UPDATE: CREW’s tweet is causing objections.
This tweet is extremely irresponsible. There’s no reason to believe this was for the Stormy Daniels payment and Trump rent payments varied throughout the campaign and after. https://t.co/mQoJ91G7nw
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) January 23, 2018
UPDATE II: The Washington Post is also pouring cold water on the story.
UPDATE III: CREW themselves are backing off.
To be clear, we’re not alleging anything nefarious took place. It was, as we said, probably a coincidence. But, as with other interesting FEC payments we flag, it’s an interesting one and one worth asking about.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 23, 2018