Then-candidate Donald Trump with his personal attorney, Michael Cohen in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, September 21, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/File Photo/Reuters)

In announcing his guilty plea on Tuesday afternoon, Michael Cohen said he violated campaign-finance law “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” presumably referring to his former employer, then-candidate Trump.

Cohen, who also pled guilty to tax- and bank-fraud charges, violated campaign-finance law by providing a hush-money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with the president.


The payment to Daniels, intended to silence the woman, totaled $130,000 and is considered to be an in-kind contribution in excess of the maximum allowable amount. Cohen is not required to cooperate with investigators in any other federal probe as part of the agreement.

Cohen also admitted while announcing his plea that the payment to Daniels, and another hush-money payment to former Miss America contestant Karen McDougal, were made “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.”

Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has previously conceded that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Daniels “over a period of several months.” Giuliani’s statement contradicted those of White House officials, who repeatedly insisted that Trump was unaware of that particular payment.

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