Brad Smith Profile picture
Jun 1 11 tweets 2 min read Read on X
In another thread, , I explain why payments to Stormy Daniels were not a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). In this thread, I'll explain why no FECA reporting obligations were violated, and why the prosecution's theory makes no sense. /1
M. Cohen testified that Trump wanted to keep Daniels allegations under wraps until after the election. Prosecutors claim they therefore illegally did not report the campaign expenditure, and by doing so intended to, and did, have "the purpose of influencing an election." /2
Presidential campaigns file monthly reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). These are filed on the 20th of each month, and cover expenditures and contributions for the prior month. So in 2016, the Sep. report was filed 9/20, and covered expenditures made in August. /3
The Oct. report was filed 10/20, reporting expenditures made in September. But after the October monthly report, the schedule changes. 12 days before the election, campaigns file a Pre-Election Report, covering expenditures up to 20 days before the election. /4
In 2016, the Pre-election Report was filed on October 27, covering expenditures made only through Oct. 19. The payment to Daniels was made on Oct. 27. So the payment would not have been reported on the Pre-election report. /5
The next report is the Post-Election Report. This covers expenditures made from 20 days before the election until 20 days after the election, and is filed 10 days after that. So this was the 1st report that would have included any expenditure to Cohen for paying Daniels. /6
In 2016, the Post-Election Report was required to be filed on December 8, one month after the election. So the prosecution's theory, that Trump wanted to hide the expenditure until after the election, makes no sense at all. /7
Even if we assume, incorrectly, that it was a campaign expenditure, it wouldn't have been reported until 30 days after the election. But again, none of this got to the jury, either through testimony or the judge's instructions. /8
Merchan was rather obviously biased here, but I'll give him the benefit of a doubt and say he was just thoroughly ignorant of campaign finance law, and had no interest in boning up on it to properly instruct the jury. /9
There was no illegal contribution or expenditure made, and no failure to report an expenditure. And even if we assume otherwise, the prosecution's theory made no sense, suggesting no criminal intent. /10
I'm not a criminal law guy. But I do know campaign finance law. The failure to properly instruct the jury on the law would seem to be reversible error. /11 End

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More from @CommishSmith

Jun 1
Let's take a stab... Falsifying business records under NY law is a misdemeanor, unless done to hide a crime. Bragg says that crime was a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), or of a NY statute making it illegal to influence an election by "unlawful" means./1
But if the latter, what is the "unlawful means?" An alleged violation of FECA. So it comes down to FECA. There are two potential violations here. One is acceptance of an unlawful contribution by the campaign. The other is incorrect reporting of a contribution by the campaign. /2
Either way, we have to have a campaign contribution. That allegedly occurred when Cohen advanced money to pay the Stormy Daniels settlement. FECA defines a contribution as any payment made "for the purpose of influencing an election." The 2016 max legal contribution was $2700. /3
Read 24 tweets
May 20
Judge Merchan has so restricted my testimony that defense has decided not to call me. Now, it’s elementary that the judge instructs the jury on the law, so I understand his reluctance. /1
But the Federal Election Campaign Act is very complex. Even Antonin Scalia—a pretty smart guy, even you hate him—once said “this [campaign finance] law is so intricate that I can’t figure it out. /2
Picture a jury in a product liability case trying to figure out if a complex machine was negligently designed, based only on a boilerplate recitation of the general definition of “negligence.” They’d be lost without knowing technology & industry norms. /3
Read 11 tweets
Apr 2, 2023
/1 I appreciate @DavidAFrench and @whignewtons giving me an extended shoutout discussing the Trump indictment last week @thedispatch @advopinions. I want to take the FEC issue up again w/ David, because I respect him and because we'll need his pro-1st A. voice in future fights.
/2 David questions the wisdom of the indictment, but believes that federal campaign finance law was violated by Trump Org's payments to Stormy Daniels. And he's got a precedent on his side--the Dist. Ct. judge let basically the same theory go to trial in the John Edwards case.
/3 The theory is simple: Fed law defines a campaign contribution as anything "for the purpose of influencing" an election for federal office. Hush money pd. Daniels was "for the purpose of influencing" 2016 prez race, and so was an illegal and unreported campaign contribution.
Read 19 tweets
Sep 27, 2022
Early voting is already underway in many states. We're 6 weeks out from "election day." Early voting should be dramatically cut back; we should re-establish election day voting as the norm, and early and absentee voting as necessary but limited exceptions. Here's why: /1
What would you think if jurors started voting midway through the trial, before hearing all the evidence, and couldn't change their votes? In response, it's claimed that early voters are the hard core partisan who won't change their votes. /2
This leaves out that a) some might change on the basis of late information; and b) for elections such as township trustee, village council, etc. most candidates spend a few hundred dollars, and don't start campaigning until October. Let's give them time to knock on doors. /3
Read 14 tweets
Sep 1, 2022
Re Alaska and ranked choice voting (RCV):

Nearly 60% of voters ranked one of the Repubs, Palin or Begich, as their first choice. Yet Peltola (Dem) wins. Odd, yet there's nothing inherently wrong with that--it's possible that many Begich voters prefer Peltola to Palin. 1/8
Of course, there may have been confusion as to how the system worked that caused many Begich voters--over 11K--to list no second choice, and Peltola won by just over 5K votes. 2/8
If those 11K had all listed a second choice, Palin needed about 70% of them to choose her. She got only 64% of those Begich voters who did list a second choice, so I doubt she wins even if all Begich voters had "exhausted" their ballots. 3/8
Read 8 tweets
May 25, 2022
Yesterday I tweeted out a number of reasons why we should encourage in-person voting. Some demanded sources for certain propositions. So here goes: /1
Absentee balloting is more prone to fraud. CALTECH/MIT VOTING TECH. PROJECT, VOTING: WHAT IS, WHAT COULD BE (2001); UNITED STATES ELECTORAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION, AN INITIAL REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE STUDY (2006) /2
COMMISSION ON FEDERAL ELECTION REFORM, BUILDING CONFIDENCE IN U.S. ELECTIONS (2005); Am. L. Inst, PRINCIPLES OF ELECTION Law ADMIN.: NON-PRECINCT VOTING AND RESOL. OF BALLOT COUNTING DISPS. (2019); Stephanie Saul & Reid J. Epstein, NY TIMES Sep. 28, 2020 /3
Read 10 tweets

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