Mueller could investigate Trump's porn star payoffs as campaign finance violations: legal expert

Special counsel Robert Mueller could investigate whether President Donald Trump's payments to his alleged mistresses broke campaign laws, according MSNBC legal analyst Jonathan Turley.

The president's longtime attorney, Michael Cohen, says he "facilitated a payment" to porn actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, and the National Enquirer publisher reportedly paid $150,000 to a Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump.

Those payments may have violated campaign finance laws, Turley said.

"The question is whether (Mueller) has the intestinal fortitude to want to get into this type of issue with a former Playboy bunny and a porn star," Turley said. "Mueller is a tied-down type of guy. I don't know if he wants to go in that direction, (but) he could."

Turley said there was precedent for a case like that, with the prosecution of former senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

"There is case precedent there," he said. "I actually disagree with the interpretation of campaign financing that came out of this last indictment. I think there's a free speech issue that has to be addressed, it goes way too far on that. This would not be as much of a stretch, there's precedent here for that type of allegation."