What are the 34 felony charges against Donald Trump?

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NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) – The Manhattan District Attorney’s office on Tuesday issued charges against Donald Trump for hush money payments to suppress accounts of his alleged extramarital affairs, becoming the first former president to of the US facing criminal charges.

Below is an explanation of the charges he faces and his possible defenses:

WHAT IS TRUMP DOING?

Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a “catch-and-kill” scheme to suppress negative news about him before the 2016 election.

During the campaign, Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence on an affair she claims she had with Trump.

Trump has denied the allegations and the circumstances but admitted he reimbursed Cohen for his payment to Daniels. He called Bragg’s investigation a “witch hunt” and pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance Tuesday.

Taken together, the charges carry a maximum of 136 years in prison under New York law, but any prison sentence following a guilty verdict is almost certainly less than that. Trump will almost certainly appeal to any conviction.

WHAT LAWS WILL THAT BREAK?

It is against New York state law to make a false entry in company records. While falsifying business records by itself is a misdemeanor, meaning it is punishable by a sentence of less than one year, it is considered a felony punishable by up to four years in prison if it was made to hide or more other crimes.

In this case, Bragg said other crimes included alleged violations of election law.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges of making an illegal campaign contribution and making excessive campaign contributions related to the scheme. The US Attorney’s office in Manhattan has not charged Trump, whom it referred to in its charging document against Cohen as “Individual-1,” with any crime.

WHAT CAN TRUMP’S DEFENSE BE?

Trump could argue that Cohen acted on his own when he paid off Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. He could also argue that the purpose of silencing Daniels and McDougal was to spare him and his family the embarrassment of public attention to the alleged extramarital affairs, not to help his campaign.

While Cohen testified in 2018 that Trump ordered him to pay off Daniels, Trump repeatedly called Cohen a “liar” and may have tried to undermine Cohen’s credibility by pointing out that he admitted to lying himself. before Congress.

In an interview with Reuters in December 2018, Trump said the payment to Daniels was “not a campaign contribution” and “there was no violation based on what we did.”

Joseph Tacopina, a lawyer for Trump, argued in television interviews that Trump was the victim of extortion by Daniels. Trump also said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the statute of limitations — generally five years in New York — had run out.

HOW DOES BRAGG OVERCOME THOSE ARGUMENTS?

While Cohen’s history of lies could provide fertile ground for Trump’s lawyers to cross-examine should he eventually testify at trial, Cohen has already been sentenced and served time.

That could blunt any attempt by Trump to argue that Cohen is falsely implicating him in trying to win a lenient sentence, a common argument that criminal defendants make against cooperating witnesses.

Trump’s claim that Daniels extorted him may not be relevant to the case because the charge focuses on his company’s false accounting of the payments as legal expenses.

The statute of limitations is unlikely to be an issue, since it does not count the time the defendant spends living outside of New York state. Trump lived in Washington, DC, while he was president and has lived in Florida since leaving office in 2021.

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Jack Queen Editing by Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell, Amy Stevens and Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Luc Cohen

Thomson Reuters

Reports in the federal courts of New York. Previously worked as a correspondent in Venezuela and Argentina.

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