Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on “The Laura Ingraham Show” on Tuesday expressed doubt about the campaign finance violation being leveled against President Donald Trump by pointing to the case of former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).
Special counsel Robert Mueller filed a memo in federal court indicating the alleged campaign finance violation on Friday.
The court filing was in response to a plea deal that investigators made with the president’s former lawyer Michael Cohen. Paul suggested the president should just ask for a ruling by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
“I think it has been a big mistake for decades now that we actually criminalized this stuff,” Paul told host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday.
“And the one particular issue we’re looking at now, whether paying someone’s mistress is a campaign finance violation — the FEC actually looked at this with John Edwards and ruled it wasn’t a campaign finance violation.”
Related: Special Counsel Recommends ‘Substantial’ but Fair Sentence for Cohen
Cohen claimed the president directed him to make hush-money payments to two women to cover up extramarital affairs.
Trump is being accused of using the payments to influence the presidential election since they occurred around the same time. The president has denied those allegations.
“My advice to the president would be to ask the FEC for a ruling,” Paul said.
“I would just ask for a ruling. John Edwards didn’t even get a fine, I don’t think, on this. They just ruled it wasn’t a campaign finance violation.”
Edwards admitted to having an extramarital affair while his wife was dying of cancer following his 2008 campaign. He faced six felony charges for violating federal campaign contribution laws to cover up the affair.
Edwards was found not guilty on one count, with the remaining five declared a mistrial.
“Here is someone the president ought to hire,” Paul said. “Brad Smith used to be the head of the FEC. He’s a brilliant attorney. He works on the First Amendment. He’s the type of guy the president would want on his team because basically, the information I have about the whole John Edwards case is from an article by Brad Smith.”
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The special counsel team has been looking into whether the president or his associates colluded with Russian interests to sway the presidential election of 2016.
Cohen is just one of a group of former associates of the president who have been targeted by the special counsel for crimes unrelated to Russia.
Cohen is facing a sentencing hearing in federal court on December 12 for a range of crimes. Mueller mentioned in his court filing that his sentence should reflect his huge lies — but also that Cohen tried to make amends by cooperating with the investigation.
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