My understanding is that Mr. Trump used his own money to pay Daniels, which is remarkably different than the John Edwards case where third parties made payments to Edward's mistress to keep her quiet during the campaign. Even so, Edwards was acquitted on most charges and had a hung jury on the remaining charges. Indeed, if the payment to Stormy Daniels is an FEC violation, than so is every payment made to the victims of sexual harassment and misconduct committed by members of Congress.
That's at odds with what Cohen and Trump are saying.
“remarkably different than the John Edwards case where third parties made payments to Edward’s mistress to keep her quiet during the campaign.”
It actually doesn’t matter. What matters if there is a non-campaign reason for the payment.
Protecting the Trump commercial brand is the reason.