OPINION:
“Trump met federal disclosure requirement by reimbursing Cohen for Stormy Daniels payment: Government” (Web, May 16) is generally factual. However, the piece implies that controversy remains about whether the disclosure under the 1978 Ethics In Government Act was timely.
The article reports that attorney Michael Cohen made the payment to Ms. Daniels in 2016, shortly before the presidential election, and that he was fully reimbursed by President Trump in 2017. Under the Ethics In Government Act, each U.S. president and vice president is required to submit a financial-disclosure report to the Office of Government Ethics every year he is in office, by May 15 of the following year. Therefore Mr. Trump’s first filing is not due until May 15, 2018.
Most presidents voluntarily submit a Form 278 report during their first partial year in office. However, depending on when in 2017 Mr. Trump actually reimbursed Mr. Cohen, such payment may not have been reflected (nor would it have been required to be reflected) in the period covered by the 2017 disclosure filing. This fact, had it been included in your article, would have placed the possibility of deliberate concealment of this payment from the government in a much clearer context.
KARL C. GLASBRENNER
Woodbridge, Va.
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