It also presents thorny questions about A.M.I.’s First Amendment protections, and whether its record in supporting Mr. Trump somehow opens the door to scrutiny usually reserved for political organizations. As he told The New Yorker last year, he considered an attack on Mr. Trump an attack on A.M.I. One person close to the campaign at the time recalled a meeting at Trump Tower in February 2015 between Mr. Pecker and Mr. Trump about how A.M.I. Last July, he accompanied Mr. Pecker to a White House dinner with Mr. Trump, along with another A.M.I. At the center of the campaign finance inquiries will be whether the ties between Mr. Cohen, Mr. Howard, Mr. Pecker, Mr. Trump and others led A.M.I.

Source: New York Times April 12, 2018 01:16 UTC