Trump's hush money trial: What charges did he face?
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NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - A jury on Thursday convicted
Donald Trump of falsifying business records to conceal hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Here is an explanation of the charges Manhattan
District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against Trump, the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President
Joe Biden in the
Nov. 5 U.S. election.
WHAT WAS TRUMP ACCUSED OF DOING?
Bragg's office last year charged Trump with
34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment that Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to
Stormy Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford. The payment was made in the waning days of the 2016 campaign in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump a decade earlier, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have alleged that was part of a broader "catch-and-kill" scheme to suppress negative news stories about Trump before the 2016 election in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
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WHAT LAWS WAS TRUMP ACCUSED OF VIOLATING?
According to prosecutors, Trump disguised his 2017 reimbursement checks to Cohen for the Daniels payment as retainer fees for legal services in records maintained by his New York-based family real estate company, the Trump Organization.
Each of the 34 counts stem from a check, ledger entry or invoice from Trump's payments to Cohen.
It is against New York state law to make a
false entry
, opens new tab in a company's records. While falsification of business records on its own is a misdemeanor, it is considered a felony punishable by up to four years in prison if it is done to conceal or further other crimes.
In this case, Bragg said that other crime was a violation of a New York state law making it a misdemeanor to conspire to promote a candidacy by "unlawful means." Prosecutors say Trump, Cohen, and former American Media chief executive David Pecker conspired to pay off people with potentially negative stories about Trump - including Daniels - to remain quiet before the 2016 election. They say those payments were effectively campaign contributions that exceeded the $2,700 cap on individual donations in 2016.
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Tempest in a teapot!
AND ...
ANALYSIS: Trump’s NY Criminal Trial Exposes Role of ‘Weaponized’ DAs, Says Legal Expert
ANALYSIS: Trump’s NY Criminal Trial Exposes Role of ‘Weaponized’ DAs, Says Legal Expert
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Yet a prosecution conceived and led by avowed political enemies of the GOP’s 2024 front-runner may well prove a double-edged sword, as it presents to millions of voters the reality of a “weaponized” district attorney with serious political ambitions of his own.
That’s the view of Harvey Kushner, chair of the criminal justice department at Long Island University in Brookville, New York, who sees the efforts of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to bring down President Trump as the culmination of a process underway for decades, in which a role traditionally associated with ostensibly objective law enforcement grows increasingly partisan.
“This has now come to a head, because what you’re seeing play out now is well within the political sphere in terms of its impact on a campaign of a candidate for president,” Mr. Kushner told The Epoch Times.
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During and since the March 25 hearing at which Judge Juan Merchan set the April 15 start date, Trump’s defense team has argued that it needed more time to review the voluminous documents related to the “hush money” allegations at the heart of the case.
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“Team Trump felt that they were getting slow-rolled, as roughly 100,000 documents were turned over very late in the game by federal prosecutors. The documents should have been turned over sooner, but they weren’t. Therefore, calling for a delay was a very practical move to make,” Mr. Leitner said.
Mr. Leitner saw far-reaching consequences to Judge Merchan’s decision on April 2 to expand the gag order imposed on President Trump, which disallows his commenting publicly on the proceedings.
In Mr. Leitner’s view, it is no coincidence that the expanded gag order bars President Trump from commenting on the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, who happens to be the head of Authentic Campaigns, a powerful Democrat-leaning political consultancy in Chicago.
“Judge Merchan has not only not delayed the trial, he has imposed a gag order against Trump so he wouldn’t make statements about potential witnesses, court staff, and counsel that could have an impact on the outcome,” Mr. Leitner said.
“The Trump-hating judge even took it a step further, saying Trump couldn’t comment on family members, all while knowing his daughter works for a pro-Democrat firm that has supported Team Biden in the past. Talk about putting a thumb on the scale,” he added.
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Trump's hush money trial: What charges did he face?
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Mr. Leitner saw far-reaching consequences to Judge Merchan’s decision on April 2 to expand the gag order imposed on President Trump, which disallows his commenting publicly on the proceedings.
In Mr. Leitner’s view, it is no coincidence that the expanded gag order bars President Trump from commenting on the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, who happens to be the head of Authentic Campaigns, a powerful Democrat-leaning political consultancy in Chicago.
“Judge Merchan has not only not delayed the trial, he has imposed a gag order against Trump so he wouldn’t make statements about potential witnesses, court staff, and counsel that could have an impact on the outcome,” Mr. Leitner said.
“The Trump-hating judge even took it a step further, saying Trump couldn’t comment on family members, all while knowing his daughter works for a pro-Democrat firm that has supported Team Biden in the past. Talk about putting a thumb on the scale,” he added.
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https://www.reuters.com/legal/what-charges-does-trump-face-new-yorks-hush-money-case-2023-04-05/ 
www.c-span.org
