Washington, December 11 (RHC)-- U.S. President Donald Trump has defended hush money payments to his former lovers a day after Democrats in Congress said he could face impeachment and jail time if the transactions are proven to violate election campaign finance laws.

In a tweet on Monday, Trump said Democrats were wrongly targeting “a simple private transaction” after court filings last week drew renewed attention to payments by his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen to two women during the 2016 campaign so they would not discuss sexual affairs with Trump.

On Sunday, U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, who will lead the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives when Democrats take control of the lower chamber next month, said if the payments were found to violate campaign finance laws, they would be an impeachable offence.

His Democratic counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff, said Trump could be indicted and could “face the real prospect of jail time.”

Under U.S. law, contributions to election campaigns, defined as things of value given to a campaign to influence voters, must be disclosed.  Such payments are also limited to $2,700 per person.

Trump earlier this year acknowledged repaying his former lawyer Cohen for the $130,000 paid to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.  He previously denied knowing anything about the payments.

On Monday, the president again denied wrongdoing and shifted any blame on Cohen.  “There was NO COLLUSION.  So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution, which it was not,” Trump tweeted.  “But even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine.