“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.”
That’s how the 13-page Statement of Facts supporting the historic criminal indictment of former president Donald Trump begins, laying out 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to Trump’s efforts to hide hush money payouts to porn star Stormy Daniels, former Playmate Karen McDougal, and a doorman who claimed to have information about an undisclosed Trump child.
The 34 counts of falsifying business records are all in the first degree—meaning they’re felonies under New York law. The false records relate to $420,000 in hush money reimbursements to his former attorney Michael Cohen, in connection to attempts to undermine the election by buying the silence of those three people.
