The US Attorney’s office maintained that Cohen’s payoff to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall in the days before the 2016 presidential election constituted an infraction against US election laws and that it was ordered by Donald J. Trump. It was illegal because it constituted an expenditure of funds to conceal a fact pertinent to the election from the public:

via Trump is now an Unindicted Felon: US Att’y for Southern District of New York