The legal risk to Trump is the timing and purpose of 2016 payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. If the money was spent to protect Trump’s campaign from embarrassment, these were de facto campaign contributions and should have been treated as such. Cohen on Tuesday pleaded guilty to two violations of campaign finance laws; in doing so he implicated Trump by claiming Trump directed Cohen to make the payments. The president denies the accusation, saying he learned of the deals “later on.”