soapbox

now this looks really interesting.

i think of both of these guys as friends. it's a rainy gloomy day and i like to kill time with podcasts when i'm avoiding work. i posted the link to brad's piece yesterday, then got the chance to read it, and was convinced. i'm not sure i know rosen; i'll stereotype him as a liberal posing as a neutral moderater until i'm better informed. hmm, the constitution center might be for genuine dialog. yeah he was ok.

smith made two important points in his article:

i paraphrase.

1. the media is so anti trump he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. if trump had used campaign funds to pay off bimbo eruptions, that would be called self-enrichment and corrupt, a la the emolients issue. instead, they are calling it illegal coordination.

smith says, correctly, that the first amendment prohibits reading the statute that way.

2. he then claims that the court has said only express advocacy counts as an expenditure, in line with buckley v valeo.

jim bopp is the expert there.

complicating things, both smith and bopp can be testy at times, and there's been friction, on a listserve we are all on that hasen runs.

they are all major players in the grand game. i kibitz from the sidelines, with a foot in each camp.

i think smith is right about point 1, and i'm currently unsure how well point 2 fits.

ok, that's my intro, more notes after listening. eh, i'll let it speak for itself. good job by all. great rainy day listen. i added a separate post for my reactions.

This is the podcast you’ve been waiting for:

President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to several crimes, including illegally making hush money payments to two women alleging affairs with then-candidate Trump. On this episode, campaign finance law experts Rick Hasen, a law professor at UC Irvine and co-editor of Election Law Journal, and Brad Smith, former chair of the FEC and Founder of the Institute for Free Speech, debate the campaign finance laws at issue, explore precedents like the John Edwards case, and consider possible legal liability for President Trump. They also dive into other current election and campaign finance law issues, including the case involving Donald Trump Jr. Jeffrey Rosen hosts.

You also might want to read my Slate piece, and Brad’s piece at NRO.

soapbox

Thursday, December 13, 2018

now this looks really interesting.

Brad Smith and Rick Hasen Join Podcast with Constitution Center’s Jeffrey Rosen to Debate: “Cohen, Trump, and Campaign Finance Law”

Links