Wall Street Journal letter to the editor by NLPC Counsel Paul Kamenar:
Your editorial criticizing District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money trial against Donald Trump (“The Trump Trial Spectacle Begins,” April 13) makes excellent points about how Mr. Bragg is vainly trying to bootstrap misdemeanor New York business-reporting provisions into felony violations. However, his theory that the $130,000 hush-money payment by Donald Trump was effectively a donation to his campaign “in excess of federal limits” isn’t even a violation.
Putting aside that both the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department took a pass on bringing such charges, the Supreme Court has made clear in Buckley v. Valeo (1976) that a candidate can give unlimited amounts of his or her own money to his or her campaign under the First Amendment. And even if the payments were impermissible in-kind contributions to the campaign, FEC rules provide that unlawful contributions to a campaign should be returned to the donor.
So the hush money that left Mr. Trump’s right pocket should be returned to his left pocket? What a trial spectacle indeed.
Paul Kamenar
National Legal and Policy Center
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