Topline
Former President Donald Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree over a series of hush money deals allegedly made to conceal affairs with three separate women, according to an unsealed indictment that was made public Tuesday, shortly after Trump pleaded not guilty in a surreal arraignment that marks the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president.
Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table for his arraignment with his attorneys, from … [+]
Key Facts
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleged in a press release that Trump deployed “catch and kill” schemes before and after the 2016 presidential election to bury three alleged affairs, then “went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity.”
Trump’s actions amounted to “attempts to violate state and federal election laws,” the DA’s office alleged—the schemes were intended to hide “damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
While the 16-page indictment contains limited details about each of the three alleged hush-money deals, the press release cited payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 election to prevent her from talking about a 2006 affair she says she had with Trump.
The DA’s office also alleged that Trump arranged a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman in exchange for his silence about a child the doorman claimed Trump had out of wedlock.
In the third instance, prosecutors claimed the Trump Organization attempted to reimburse American Media Inc. (which, at the time, owned the National Enquirer, whose former publisher was a long-time friend of Trump’s) for a $150,000 payment it made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal in exchange for the rights to her story about her alleged affair with Trump, which the tabloid never published.
The indictment alleges Trump attempted to “defraud” and “conceal” another crime in the commission of each of the 34 counts—a distinction that legal experts said would allow the DA to elevate the misdemeanor charges of falsifying business records to felonies.
The indictment and the DA’s press release do not name the three women, whose stories have been previously widely reported.
Each Class E felony charge carries a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison, though it’s unlikely Trump gets prison time if he’s found guilty, according to a law enforcement official who told Yahoo News “no one gets jail time for (Class E felonies) as a first offender.”
Contra
Trump, who did not speak directly to the press on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment before Manhattan criminal court Judge Juan Merchan just before 3 p.m. He has previously denied each of the three alleged affairs.
Key Background
The historic indictment was made public on Tuesday moments after Trump’s arraignment, marking a culmination of the Manhattan District Attorney’s four-year probe into Trump’s conduct. The investigation began when Cohen—who pleaded guilty in 2018 to a set of federal charges stemming from the agreement with Daniels—alleged that he made the payments at Trump’s direction and with his knowledge. Prosecutors were widely expected to pursue misdemeanor charges of falsifying business records against Trump, which carry a maximum sentence of one year in prison, after federal prosecutors alleged in their 2018 case against Cohen that the Trump Organization reimbursed him for the $130,000 payment to Daniels under contracts that falsely specified the fees were for legal services. Experts speculated that the charges would be elevated to felonies if prosecutors could tie them to an intent to commit a second crime.
Tangent
Trump captured the air waves as information slowly trickled out over the past two weeks after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office indicated it was nearing an indictment in the case when prosecutors sought Trump’s testimony. Days after prosecutors requested he appear before the grand jury, Trump wrongly claimed on March 18 that he would be arrested the following Tuesday and urged his supporters to protest. The Manhattan grand jury unexpectedly voted to indict him on Thursday, days before a scheduled April recess and after several previous delays in the proceedings.
Contra
Prior to the charges being made public, experts said the case hinged on shaky legal ground that required prosecutors to prove that Trump not only knew about the deal with Daniels, but also played a role in executing the allegedly fraudulent contracts. Elevating the charges to a felony introduced another uncertain legal question since the secondary charge was expected to stem from a federal violation of campaign finance laws, while the Manhattan DA’s case against Trump is at the state level.
Chief Critic
Trump’s attorneys have defended him by attacking the credibility of Cohen, who said he testified twice before the grand jury and met with prosecutors more than 20 times. Cohen pleaded guilty to five federal counts in 2018 in connection with the Daniels deal and pleaded guilty in a separate case of lying to Congress in its investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia. He served prison time in the Daniels case and subsequently lost his law license. Trump’s attorneys have also claimed that Daniels extorted him for the payments. He has denied the affair and alleged the investigation is a politically motivated witch hunt.
What We Don’t Know
Whether prosecutors will land a conviction in the case. Manhattan criminal cases typically take at least a year to go to trial, meaning it could commence at the tail end of the 2024 presidential campaign or after Trump’s potential re-election to the White House. Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that he anticipated making a motion to dismiss the case.
Further Reading
Trump Faces 34 Felony Counts For Falsifying Records, Report Says (Forbes)
First Photos Of Trump In Court Released (Forbes)
Trump Pleads Not Guilty To 34 Counts Of Falsifying Business Records And Conspiracy, Reports Say (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/04/04/trump-indictment-unsealed-former-president-faces-34-felony-counts-for-multiple-alleged-hush-money-schemes/