>>Not declaring that payment to the FEC right away is Trump’s problem.
No it’s not, not the least of the reasons being that it’s not what he’s being charged with. On top of that, the claim that the payment was a campaign contribution is weak. For starters, the payment was made from Trump’s personal account, not from campaign donations.
Additionally, paying a nuisance for her to go away, has motivations beyond just a campaign. There’s general damage to one’s reputation as a businessman, personal trouble that it might cause with family, etc. Those are reason for which people pay “hush money” all the time, and they’re not illegal. It doesn’t suddenly become a campaign contribution just because it may also benefit one’s campaign.
“payment was a campaign contribution is weak. For starters, the payment was made from Trump’s personal account, not from campaign donations.”
You are required to report personal contributions to a campaign. The argument is that this payment was made to help the campaign, preventing Stormy from divulging damaging info, so it was a contribution to the campaign and thus must be reported.