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Staff Writer: Sydney Cayer
Email: scayer@umassd.edu
Donald Trump has been charged with thirty-four counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan court.
All of these charges are, at the first count, felony degrees. Each charge holds a maximum four-year sentence.
He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Trump is the first ex-president charged with a crime.
The charges revolve around hush money sent to multiple people surrounding allegations that Trump was having affairs with various women.
The hush money is not the issue; how it was executed – through falsifying business records. Falsifying business records is a felony charge.
In 2016, a few days before the election, there was a wire transfer of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels from Trump’s former lawyer. She claimed the two had an affair, but Trump described the claims as “political persecution.”
This was the first criminal case brought against him.
Trump also paid off a doorman of Trump Towers who claimed that Trump had a “love child.” The doorman received $30,000 in hush money.
The National Enquirer paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, who claimed she also had an affair with Trump. The National Enquirer bought McDougal’s story for their news articles and informed her that she could not speak on the subject from then on because they “owned” the story.
The hush money is being charged out of Manhattan, New York City, by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. The possible charges include accounting fraud and campaign finance charges.
See the indictment document here.
See the statement of facts document here.
The trial is set to begin in early 2024.
The former president is also being investigated for an array of other crimes.
He is being investigated for having an alleged role in the attack on the Capital on January 6th, 2021, where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the White House, hoping to stop Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.
The hearings committee accuses Trump of inciting insurrection and other crimes. This case has involved the most extensive police investigation in US history.
The former president denies responsibility for the incident.
The Department of Justice is investigating the removal of documents from the White House and moving to “Mar-a-Lago,” Trump’s Florida estate.
“Mar-a-Lago” was searched in August, and 11,000 documents were seized from his home. One hundred were classified, and some were top secret.
Trump denied wrongdoing and said it was “politically motivated.”
The attack on the U.S. Capital and the documents in Florida are both being prosecuted by Jack Smith.
For events of January 6th, Trump could be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, inciting, assisting, or aiding an insurrection, and witness tampering.
Trump could be charged with mishandling and unauthorized retention of national security documents and obstruction for moving documents to Florida.
Eight months were spent investigating alleged attempts to overturn Trump’s 2020 presidential loss.
The investigation focused on a discussion between the former president and Republic Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2nd, 2021. Trump stated he wanted 11,780 votes.
11,780 votes would have given him victory in a swing state, but Trump claims this is a witch hunt.
This case is out of Georgia and is being prosecuted by Fani Willis. The possible charges include election violations, racketeering, threatening public officials, and no perjury charge.
There is a civil lawsuit filed by a New York State business fraud case about whether or not Trump and Trump Organization committed fraud by inflating values and assets.
If charged, the consequences include a real estate ban where Trump would not be able to buy New York real estate for five years and a New York business ban.
The attorney general involved in this case is Letitia James.
This trial begins in October 2023.