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The Atlantic reports

In pleading guilty to violations of campaign-finance laws, Cohen said that the then-candidate Trump had directed him to do so, arranging payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump in order to hush them up and affect the result of the 2016 election.

Cohen has plead guilty to eight felonies, including campaign finance violations by paying of a woman to keep her quiet leading up to the US Federal election.

Has anyone ever been charged with - much less convicted of - unduly influencing a campaign and election results by paying an informant to not come forward with "damning" information?

Has anyone other than Cohen ever been tried and convicted of similar transgressions in any US election?

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    Please note that the function of this site is to verify or refute the specific claims that are made by a notable source. So, we could help you check the specific claim you quoted: that Cohen pleaded guilty and said his actions were at Trump's direction. But if it's just you that's curious (e.g. whether there have been previous cases), then this site is not the right place. Law.SE might be, but it will help if you can ask a precise question about the law. – Nate Eldredge Aug 26 '18 at 01:55
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    It isn't clear what the claim is here. Yes, someone has been tried and convicted of such a crime: Michael Cohen. – Oddthinking Aug 26 '18 at 03:03
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    @Oddthinking by use of the word "similar" the question clearly means "Has anyone *else*..." i.e. "Is it unprecedented". I suppose technically by the rules of this site they should find someone who is claiming that it is or isn't unprecedented - but I'd say the US president and many others' "not a crime" comments meet this bar. This clearly isn't a spurious "My mate Dave reckons..." question. That said it might get a better answer at https://law.stackexchange.com - they do legal precedent questions [e.g. this one, also about Cohen](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/27781) – user56reinstatemonica8 Aug 26 '18 at 08:57
  • A question about precedents like this will probably be ok on politics SE. – Fizz Aug 26 '18 at 12:59
  • @Oddthinking Cohen didn't get tried and convicted... he plead guilty in a plea deal. I think there is a difference and - more importantly - haven't seen anyone else actually convicted by a judge/jury of "similar" (paying money to silence a source of bad information - Blackmail? by an ex lover? THAT being called campaign violations?). I wasn't sure if this was the best place (and almost posted THAT in the header) but posted here as opposed to Politics or Law - I'll post there in a short bit. – WernerCD Aug 26 '18 at 14:25
  • Wasn't Cohen's offense making campaign-purposed payments without filing statutory declarations as to how the money entered the campaign stream, and how it left? – DJohnM Aug 26 '18 at 19:40
  • I think the main argument is that the money was never "campaign stream" money... being a candidate doesn't mean that your money is campaign money. Trump paying someone outside of "official campaign" means and "official campaign" reasons... I'm obviously not a lawyer and more just wanted similar convictions or cases. – WernerCD Aug 26 '18 at 20:58
  • BTW: https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/31265/has-anyone-been-convicted-of-campaign-finance-violations-by-paying-an-informant – WernerCD Aug 26 '18 at 20:58
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    @WernerCD He was not convicted of misusing campaign money. He was convicted for not reporting the donation. Which is a crime. (Also the tax evasion and falsifying financial documents which are also crimes, but thats not the point). Even though the money did not go *through* the campaign, the law does not allow you to just dodge reporting requirements by directly paying for stuff the campaign wants you to pay for. For example, paying people to volunteer at the campaign would also be an in-kind donation that would need to be reported. TL:DR; Candidates shouldnt be paying hush money. IANAL – Tal Aug 27 '18 at 15:41
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    I'm not clear on the idea that Cohen was convicted for "unduly influencing an election." Paying out of pocket would be financial contributions in excess of what is allowed. Paying and covering it up would be violating disclosure laws. Making the payments on behalf of Trump could be disbursing funds for services of uses that are not allowed for campaign funds (see Rep Hunter now facing charges for "personal use" of campaign funds). None of that is about whether he influenced perceptions or the outcome by trying to polish a candidates image. – PoloHoleSet Aug 27 '18 at 20:22
  • IANAL as well (obviously) and just trying to make sense of something the two camps are spinning. :) Good discussion either way I think – WernerCD Aug 28 '18 at 13:16

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