Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday to eight criminal charges, including two campaign finance violations in which he directly implicated Trump.
Cohen said that ahead of the 2016 election, he arranged payments to two women to suppress their stories of alleged affairs with Trump. He told a federal judge that he did so in coordination with the then-candidate and in an effort to influence the election.
He admitted to committing two separate crimes that violated federal election law: He caused a corporation to make an unlawful contribution to the Trump campaign and he personally made an excessive contribution to the Trump campaign.
The first crime occurred when Cohen arranged to have AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, buy the rights to the story of Playboy model Karen McDougal for $150,000, according to court papers. AMI then shelved her story.
That payment served as an in-kind contribution to Trump's presidential campaign, violating a ban on corporate donations to campaigns, prosecutors said.
The second violation occurred when Cohen paid adult-film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money days before Election Day. Cohen admitted to making the payment so that her story would not damage Trump's campaign.
Prosecutors said that the $130,000 served as an excessive contribution to Trump's campaign by Cohen, who under federal law was only allowed to donate a maximum of $5,400.
Trump asserted Wednesday that because the payments to the women were not made by his campaign committee, they did not break the law.
"They didn't come out of the campaign, and that's big," he said on "Fox & Friends," adding: "It's not even a campaign violation."
However, under federal campaign finance rules, a contribution is "anything of value given, loaned or advanced to influence a federal election."
A "knowing and willful" violation of those rules - which Cohen admitted to - can lead to criminal charges.
Excessive in-kind contributions do not usually result in criminal said Jonathan Biran, a partner at Biran Kelly and former prosecutor with the Justice Department's public integrity unit. "What sets this apart is the amount of the things of value - and also, one might argue, the importance of the issue that was the subject of these payments," he said. "In other words, to prevent the surfacing of these allegations."
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