WASHINGTON - Donald Trump on Monday
defended hush money payments reported by his former lawyer a day
after Democrats said the U.S. president could face impeachment
and jail time if the transactions are proven to be campaign
finance violations.
Trump, in early morning tweets, said Democrats were wrongly
targeting "a simple private transaction" after court filings
last week drew renewed attention to six-figure payments by his
personal lawyer to two women during the 2016 campaign so they
would not discuss affairs with Trump.
On Sunday, U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, who will lead
the Judiciary Committee when Democrats take control of the House
of Representatives next month, said if the payments were found
to violate campaign finance laws it would be an impeachable
offense.
His Democratic counterpart on the Intelligence Committee,
Representative Adam Schiff, said Trump could be indicted and
could "face the real prospect of jail time."
Under U.S. law, campaign contributions, defined as things of
value given to a campaign to influence an election, must be
disclosed. Such payments are also limited to $2,700 per person.
Trump earlier this year acknowledged repaying his former
lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 paid to porn star
Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.
He previously disputed knowing anything about the payments.
On Monday, the president again denied wrongdoing and shifted
any blame on Cohen.
"There was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple
private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,
which it was not," Trump tweeted. "But even if it was, it is
only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s - but it was done correctly by a
lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer’s liability if
he made a mistake, not me."
U.S. prosecutors on Friday sought prison time for Cohen,
Trump's self-proclaimed "fixer," for the payments directed by
Trump as well as on charges of evading taxes and lying to
Congress.
The case stemmed from a federal investigation into alleged
Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and
possible collusion with Trump's campaign. Russia has denied
interfering and Trump said his campaign did not cooperate with
Moscow.