“While no big deal, I did not commit a campaign violation!” President Donald Trump wrote online. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo WHITE HOUSE Trump: 'I did not commit a campaign violation'

President Donald Trump said Saturday he “did not commit a campaign violation” in the run-up to the 2016 election, despite a filing last month from federal prosecutors implicating the president in his former attorney’s campaign finance crimes.

“Many people currently a part of my opposition, including President Obama & the Dems, have had campaign violations, in some cases for very large sums of money. These are civil cases. They paid a fine & settled,” Trump wrote online. “While no big deal, I did not commit a campaign violation!”


Longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for tax and fraud charges, for lying to Congress and for a pair of campaign finance violations stemming from hush money that prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege Trump directed his former fixer to pay to a porn star and the National Enquirer tabloid.

Trump has previously complained of what he views as insufficient media scrutiny of former President Barack Obama’s campaign finance error, tweeting in August: “Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!”

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The Federal Election Commission in 2013 fined Obama’s 2008 campaign $375,000 after it failed to provide a series of 48-hour notices for nearly 1,300 contributions that totaled more than $1.8 million. Notices must be filed on contributions of $1,000 or more that are revived within 20 days of Election Day.

Obama’s campaign paid $230,000, with the Democratic National Committee paying the rest of the amount.