The “Crime(s)” for which Trump was Convicted in NY
Donald J. Trump was indicted by a NY grand jury of falsifying business records on March 30, 2023.
Trump was arraigned on 34 charges in Manhattan criminal court on April 4, 2024, and he pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
On May 30, 2024, he was found guilty on all 34 counts. Sentencing is set for July 7, 2024.
When I heard of the verdict, my curiosity was piqued as to what exactly were/are the charges.
I understand the charges relate to the period prior to, during, and immediately following the 2016 election, not the 2020 election.
He was prosecuted under NY state statute 17-152.
Here’s that Statute:
- 17-152. Conspiracy to promote or prevent election.
Any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
However, the Manhattan prosecutor alleged that Trump falsified business records in furtherance of another crime, elevating the misdemeanor to a Class E felony.
As I understand it, in New York, for the charge of falsifying business records to be bumped up to a felony, one must commit the crime of falsifying business records when the “intent to defraud” includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.
In addition to making the charges public, the Manhattan prosecutor also submitted his summary of the indictment.
Here’s the first 2 paragraphs of those 13-pages:
“The defendant DONALD J. TRUMP repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.
From August 2015 to December 2017, the Defendant orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects. In order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York. The participants also took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments made in furtherance of the scheme.”
Here’s the first charge:
Charge 1
The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.
Each of the other 33 charges read similarly, so I won’t take the space for sake of redundancy. The prosecutor was required to prove not just that Trump doctored records, but that he did so to commit or conceal another crime. The underlying crime that motivated Trump’s alleged misconduct, prosecutors said in court, was a conspiracy to defraud voters in his presidential campaign.
So, this boils down to “intent.” Trump’s alleged intent was to falsify business records to hide negative information from a porn star, Stormy Daniels, (who apparently was extorting him) – to affect the presidential election. I wonder how many politicians have non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s) which is not crime.
I don’t think anyone thinks that Michael Cohen didn’t pay Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 presidential election to remain silent about a sexual encounter she alleged she had with Trump in 2006.
No one, including Trump, thinks the porn star wasn’t paid in 2016, via her former attorney Michael Avenatti – who apparently didn’t pay her – and is presently serving time in a federal prison for felony fraud and extortion. (Remember Avenatti? Many media pundits thought he should run for president during his 15 minutes of fame.)
But in 2018, Daniels brought a defamation suit against Trump for a tweet he wrote about her allegations. She lost that suit, and after an appeal to the 9th Circuit, was ordered to pay the $300K in legal fees he incurred fighting the suit.
Besides the controversial requirement by the NY trial judge that Trump be present for each minute of the trial, he placed a solitary gag order on Trump. Further, in his instructions to the jury, the trial judge told the jury: “Although you must conclude unanimously that the defendant conspired to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means, you need not be unanimous as to what those unlawful means were.”
That instruction indicates to me the prosecutor didn’t need to prove the “crime vs. misdemeanor” used to promote Trump’s election, only to unanimously agree with the prosecutor’s allegation.
So, the prosecutor showed 11 invoices from Cohen, 11 payments to Cohen and 12 entries in the financial records of Trump.
The prosecution had three, “star” witnesses, Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and the former CEO of The National Inquirer. A list of real, incredible characters.
Trump currently faces the maximum sentence of 4 years in prison.
A search of the New York State Law Reporting Bureau for relevant case law dating back to 2000 found two entries in which a judge issued legal opinions on the statute. Both were from this trial judge last year in rejecting Trump’s motions to have the case dismissed. That’s an idea of how rare the statute has been used.
With this review and analysis, I understand the strong likelihood the verdict will be overturned on appeal.
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Have a great and [prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://apnews.com/the-charges-against-donald-trump-0000018fc468d0cbad8fcdfc93480000
https://newyork.public.law/laws/n.y._election_law_section_17-152
SPIDER Bytes
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