Former president Donald Trump committed 34 felonies when he falsified business records related to hush-money payments made in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election to conceal an alleged affair with a porn actress, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The indictment, released after Trump’s court appearance, alleges that Trump “hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” and that he “orchestrated a scheme with others” to influence the election “by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication.”
The indictment hangs on a $130,000 hush money payment Trump authorized to porn actress Stormy Daniels prior to the election. The indictment also notes a $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women claimed to have had sex with Trump while he was married. “The Defendant did not want this information to become public because he was concerned about the effect it could have on his candidacy,” the indictment reads.
The indictment also notes a $30,000 payment made to a Trump Tower doorman who was trying to sell a story that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock.
“Under New York state law it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and an intent to conceal another crime. That is exactly what this case is about. Thirty-four false statements made to cover up other crimes,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “These are felony crimes in New York state, no matter who you are.”
Prosecutors allege that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made the hush-money payment to Daniels’ lawyer, and Trump reimbursed him in 2017, disguising the payments to Cohen as payments for legal services performed that year. Bragg said Trump repeatedly made false statements on New York state business records month after month in 2017.
“For nine straight months, the defendant held documents in his hand containing this key lie, that he was paying Michael Cohen for legal services performed in 2017,” Bragg said. “And he personally signed checks for payments to Michael Cohen for each of these nine months.”
“The evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes related to the 2016 election,” said Bragg, who described a “catch and kill scheme” to buy and suppress negative information about Trump. The illegal payments were made through shell companies, he said.
“As part of this scheme, Donald Trump and others made three payments to people who claimed to have negative information about Mr. Trump,” Bragg said.
Trump responded to the charges in court, firmly stating that he is not guilty of the alleged crimes, according to reporters who were in the courtroom. Trump is the first former U.S. president to be indicted on criminal charges.
Charges of falsifying business records can be prosecuted as misdemeanors, but Bragg bumped all the charges to Class E felonies, the lowest level of felony under New York penal code. A conviction of a Class E felony of falsifying business records can result in up to four years in prison, though that appears unlikely in Trump’s case.
The indictment lays out the case against Trump, starting with the origin of the alleged “catch and kill scheme” during a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower, just after Trump announced his candidacy.
At the meeting, David Pecker, then the CEO of American Media, Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, agreed to help Trump by being his campaign’s “eyes and ears,” looking out for negative stories about him, and alerting Cohen about those stories. He also agreed to publish negative stories about Trump’s political opponents, according to the indictment.
Soon after, American Media learned that a Trump Tower doorman was trying to sell a story about a child that Trump allegedly fathered out of wedlock. American Media paid $30,000 for rights to the story, and then falsely characterized the payment in its records. The company eventually learned the story wasn’t true, but Cohen directed Pecker not to release the doorman from the confidentiality agreement.
In June of 2016, American Media paid $150,000 to McDougal in exchange for her agreement not to speak about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump. The payment was made after a discussion with Trump and Cohen, who were captured on an audio recording discussing how to obtain the rights to the story from American Media and how to reimburse the company.
“So, what do we got to pay for this? One fifty?” Trump asked Cohen, according to the indictment. He suggested paying cash. When Cohen disagreed, he suggested a payment by check.
Pecker agreed to transfer the rights to McDougal’s story to Cohen’s shell company for $125,000, but the deal eventually fell through.
In October 2016, American Media learned of Daniels’ account of an affair with Trump, and reached out again to Cohen. He negotiated with Daniels’ lawyer, agreeing to pay $130,000 for her silence in the weeks before the election, according to the indictment. Cohen eventually opened a Manhattan bank account in the name of a new shell company, transferred $131,000 from his personal home equity line of credit into the account, and in late October wired $130,000 from that account to Daniels’ lawyer.
The Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen through a variety of invoices in 2017 for legal services allegedly provided that year. “Each invoice falsely stated that it was being submitted ‘[p]ursuant to the retainer agreement,’ and falsely requested ‘payment for services rendered’ for a month of 2017,” the indictment reads. “In fact, there was no such retainer agreement and [Cohen] was not being paid for services rendered in any month of 2017.”
Bragg said the scheme violated New York election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. The $130,000 payment to Daniels also exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap, he said.
If Trump had admitted to reimbursing Cohen for paying for Daniels’ silence, it would have meant admitting to a crime, Bragg said. Instead, he said, “to complete the scheme, they planned to mischaracterize the repayments to Mr. Cohen as income to the New York state tax authorities.”
In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion and campaign finance violations. The following month, American Media entered into a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors, and admitted to its role in paying off McDougal.
Trump is slated to deliver remarks about the case Tuesday evening at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Federal prosecutors and regulators with expertise in campaign-finance law who reviewed the hush-money case decided against charging Trump with a crime. But Bragg, a soft-on-crime progressive prosecutor who boasted about his previous efforts to investigate Trump and his family, vowed to take on the former president if he was elected.
At one point, after his election, the investigation into Trump’s actions appeared to be over. But after Bragg, a Democrat, was slammed by his progressive critics, he resurrected the case.
Many legal experts from across the political spectrum have suggested that Bragg’s case is weak, and that the case against Trump is being driven by politics.
Trump has painted himself as a victim of a “witch-hunt,” and suggested that Bragg “INDICT HIMSELF” for allegedly leaking information about the indictment to the media. On his social-media site, Truth Social, Trump has called on Bragg to “resign, NOW!”
Trump has also taken aim at New York judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, writing that he was “hand picked by Bragg,” and “HATES ME.”
While Bragg is charging Trump with 34 felonies, he only needs a jury to convict the former president on one. Bragg could be hoping for a deadlocked jury, looking to wrap up deliberations, to reach a compromise and convict Trump on at least one count.
Trump’s team believes the criminal case against him could help him raise money for his 2024 presidential campaign, and give him a political boost with the Republican base. Recent polls have shown a bump for Trump.
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll of Republican voters shows Trump with 57 percent support in a head-to-head matchup with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who had 31 percent support. Trump’s support increased by ten percent in less than two weeks.
A new St. Anselm College poll of the 2024 New Hampshire GOP primary shows Trump up in that state with 42 percent support, well ahead of DeSantis (29 percent), New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (14 percent), and Nikki Haley (4 percent).