1/ Ignore the salacious details for just a moment. An agent of a federal candidate is reported to have transferred $130k three weeks before an election to kill a story that would hurt the candidate. This gets @alt_fec's attention. wsj.com/articles/trump…
2/ Here's 52 USC §30101(8)(A): "The term 'contribution' includes— (i) any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office..."
3/ And on the flip side: 52 USC §30101(9)(A): "The term 'expenditure' includes— (i) any purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit, or gift of money or anything of value, made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office..."
4/ Contributions and expenditures must be reported. A candidate can make as large a contribution as he likes to his own campaign, but it must be reported. A campaign can make as large an expenditure as it likes on anything campaign-related, but it must be reported.
5/ If a $130k contribution comes from anyone except the candidate, it is far beyond the legal limits, even if it doesn't go through the campaign's bank account.
6/ And if the source of a contribution is either directly or indirectly a foreign national, then there's a whole nother set of legal issues. Foreigners are flatly banned from making political contributions (52 USC §30121).
7/ The expenditure likely couldn't be an "independent expenditure" from a super PAC or 501(c)(4) org, because the candidate's agent made the transfer. Campaigns and such groups can't coordinate.
8/ So! This seems like as good a time as any to re-up this thread: 
9/ We now return you to concentrating on the salacious details. @alt_fec out.
