President Trump's war chest is paying for more than MAGA hats.
Nearly $228,000 in campaign funding has gone toward legal expenses for Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, ABC News reported Monday.
Anonymous sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that three payments made to a law firm, McDermott Will and Emery, may prove problematic for the Trump campaign. The law firm represents Cohen, which could put the campaign "on shaky legal ground," said Stephen Spaulding, an executive at the nonprofit watchdog Common Cause. Cohen did not have an official role in the Trump campaign, so the financial backing could violate campaign finance laws.
Cohen's attorney, Stephen Ryan, is a partner at McDermott Will and Emery, reports ABC News. Ryan represents Cohen in the ongoing legal battle over Cohen's $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Sources told ABC News that the Trump campaign payments, which were made between October 2017 and January 2018, were not related to the Daniels case.
Ryan also represents Cohen in the special counsel investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to interfere in the 2016 election. Legal experts say that if the campaign funding specifically went toward legal representation in the Russia probe, it may not violate any laws. Read more at ABC News.