The criteria for the crime of election interference are specific
Trump s hush money payments do not meet the criteria for the crime of election interference but rather fall within the broad category of trying to influence voters by presenting a more polished image, which is the bread and butter of politicians and the standard practise in a campaign.
Interference and influence are two different things. One is a crime, the other is a standard political activity.
By paying Stormy Daniels to be silent on their affair, Trump was engaged in the activitiy of PR, which is a standard practise for politicians.
Can a candidate who pays 100 K to get a face surgery and hides it from the public in order to look better on the campaign trial be accused of election interference?
Can a candidate who pays 100 K to get their teenager drug rehab in secret to impress voters be accused of election interference?
Clearly, to define election interference so broadly is to invite criminalizes standard campaign behaviour.
An examination of the criteria for the crime of election interference shows Trump has met none of them by his hush money payments. In a bait and switch, 34 boook keeping entries have been substituted to dissemble a crime. But 34 book keeping entries cannot in themselves be felonies without a crime being specified to which they contributed.
Here is a summary of the crime of the criteria that has to be met for election inference...
Federal election crimes fall into three broad categories—campaign finance crimes, voter/ballot fraud, and civil rights violations.
Campaign finance
A person gives more than $4,600 to a federal candidate (various limits apply for donations to and from committees and groups)
A donor asks a friend to give money to a federal candidate, promising to reimburse the friend, and the friend makes the donation and the real donor reimburses him
A corporation gives corporate money to a federal candidate
A person who is neither a citizen nor a green card holder gives money to a federal, state, or local candidate
Civil rights violations
Someone threatens a voter with physical or economic harm unless the voter casts his ballot in a particular way
Someone tries to prevent qualified voters from getting to the polls in a federal election
A scheme exists to prevent minorities from voting
Voter/ballot fraud
A voter intentionally gives false information when registering to vote
A voter receives money or something of value in exchange for voting in a federal election or registering to vote
Someone votes more than once in a federal election
An election official corrupts his or her office to benefit a candidate or party (e.g., lets unqualified voters cast ballots)
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/public-corruption/election-crimes
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