The folks at Politico.com have posted 31 “must read” quotes from Rudy Giuliani’s Wednesday-Thursday media blitz on the hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels by President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen and reimbursed by Trump himself.

They’re all worth your time, but be sure you work your way down to #28. In 33 words, Giuliani demolishes his own claims that the payment was made only to protect Trump’s marriage and had nothing to do with the presidential campaign:

“Imagine if that came out on Oct. 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton … Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”

Cohen’s job, of course was to protect Trump, especially in the last days of a presidential campaign. That makes his payment to Daniels a campaign contribution, one well in excess of the $2,700 limit set by federal law and one unreported by the Trump campaign. And under federal law, illegal contributions that are “knowing and willful”  are also criminal.

As Paul Seamus Ryan, Common Cause’s vice president for policy and litigation observed Wednesday night, “Giuliani’s admission that Trump reimbursed Cohen amounts to an admission that Trump actually knew about the payment. In other words, Trump’s own lawyer has now handed the DOJ evidence that President Trump committed criminal violations of federal law.”

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