Don Lemon shows 1999 clip of Trump saying ‘nobody knows more about campaign finance’ than him
CNN host Don Lemon late Wednesday shared a 1999 video of President Trump touting his knowledge of campaign finance as questions swirl about Trump’s understanding of the topic.
“Well, investigators could be pretty interested in this: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that sworn statements by Donald Trump dating back several decades indicate he has a deep understanding of campaign finance laws,” Lemon said on his nightly news program.
{mosads}”They could also just listen to Trump in his own words,” he added, before playing a tape of an interview Trump had with former CNN host Larry King.
“I think nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do because I’m the biggest contributor,” Trump said at the time after being asked about campaign finance reform.
“Ruh roh,” Lemon said. “Sounds like Donald Trump knows plenty about campaign finance, a fact that could certainly backfire on him. There’s always a tape or tweet for everything.
According to a new report from the Journal, Trump has testified multiple times regarding his experience with campaign donations, the first of which reportedly came in 1988, when he testified for a government integrity commission.
Trump’s knowledge of campaign finance laws may be key in any future criminal proceedings against him, experts say, as prosecutors would need to prove that the president knowingly violated the law in order to secure a conviction against him.
The president’s former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in August to paying two women during the campaign in order for them to remain silent about alleged affairs they had with Trump more than a decade ago.
Federal prosecutors later said in a court filing that Cohen made the payments at Trump’s direction. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month for several federal crimes, including violating campaign finance law.
Trump has repeatedly denied that he directed Cohen to break the law. He’s also said that nondisclosure payments do not qualify as a violation of campaign finance law.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney in the special counsel’s Russia investigation, also told the Journal that “whether or not the president had detailed knowledge of campaign-finance law,” the payments were not a violation.
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