Trump's BIGGEST CAMPAIGN Promise may be ILLEGAL...

By Legal AF

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Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian break down President Trump's promise of a $5,000 "Trump dividend" to every adult citizen if Republicans keep the House and Senate in the midterms — a pledge that would cost roughly $1.2 trillion and can't be paid without Congress — and ask whether it, along with the $500 and $90 payments already going out, amounts to an illegal bribe. Brian explains that 18 U.S.C. § 597 bars offering money to induce a vote, but Trump's promise is a generalized campaign pledge to everyone rather than a deal with specific voters, which puts it closer to the Supreme Court's 1982 decision in Brown v. Hartlage than a slam-dunk prosecution, even though Brian and Shant agree it sits much nearer the line because it is blatantly conditioned on a partisan win. Brian and Shant then dig into the other "non-bribe bribes": roughly 950,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states are receiving $500 refund checks of surplus HealthCare.gov user fees, mailed with a personal