New York State is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. With almost 19.6 million residents. It is the fourth-most populous state in the United States and seventh-most densely populated as of 2023. New York State's largest city New York City is the most populous city in the United States.
New York taxes its citizens, corporations, and companies to support the public infrastructure they enjoy. It relies on the honesty of those citizens, corporations, and companies in preparing and filing accurate tax returns so each person or company pays their fair share of taxes.
People or companies that lie and prepare inaccurate business records and false information on their financial statements and tax returns are cheating and stealing money from the public funds from all the other citizens and companies and reducing the benefits provided to them by the state and city of New York
Sentencing : July 11 2024
Possible Outcomes
- Jail
- House Arrest
- Restricted Travel - Cannot leave New York County - Manhattan
- Restricted Travel - Cannot leave New York City
- Restricted Travel - Cannot travel to other States
- Restricted Travel - Cannot travel to other Countries
- Probation
- Other...
Prosecutors say the Trump Organization paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to stop her from speaking to the National Enquirer. They also allege that the Trump campaign paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal to prevent her from selling her story to the National Enquirer.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts (criminal charges) relating to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The 34 felony charges include the following:
- 11 counts relating to payments made to Michael Cohen
- 11 counts relating to payments for Cohen’s services
- 12 counts relating to falsification of business records
According to prosecutors, the Trump Organization paid Cohen a sum significantly exceeding his original expenses and services as legal counsel. In 2018, Cohen stated that he received a total of $420,000 over several months. The Trump Organization recorded these payments as legal expenses.
In New York, charges of falsifying business records amount to a “class E felony”, which is punishable by up to four years in prison.
About the Criminal Case
The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump is a pending criminal case against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. On March 30, 2023, Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his alleged role in a scandal relating to hush money payments made to the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, making him the first U.S. president to be indicted. Trump faces 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree, carrying a maximum sentence of 136 years if Trump is convicted on all counts
In early February 2024, Trump's federal election obstruction trial, originally set for early March, was postponed pending appeals, increasing the likelihood of the Manhattan criminal trial taking place as planned on March 25, 2024.
On March 11, 2024, Trump's lawyers requested a delay of trial until after the federal election obstruction case on the basis that it would bolster his argument of presidential immunity, as some evidence and allegedly some acts overlapped with his time in office. Also on March 11, Trump asked to delay the trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he is generally immune from prosecution in the federal charges of election obstruction.
On March 18, Trump's team requested an additional delay on the basis that pretrial publicity and apparent anti-Trump bias in Manhattan would prohibit a fair jury from being selected in April, although only 35% in the cited poll said they were convinced Trump was guilty in the DA's case specifically.
On May 23, 2023, Justice Merchan set the trial for March 25, 2024. Trump's team complained that he expected to have multiple trials around that time.
On March 14, 2024, it was reported that in the last ten days, the district U.S. attorney’s office (USAO) had provided prosecutors with over 100,000 pages of previously undisclosed documents, largely related to the 2017 federal probe of Cohen's payment to Daniels. Trump's lawyers asserted that this was part of a large-scale effort by the DA to suppress evidence that would undermine its case, and requested that the trial be delayed by 90 days.
On April 8, Trump requested to postpone the trial so the court could consider a change of venue, which was denied the same day, and so he could appeal the gag order, which was denied the next day. On April 10, the appeals court denied Trump's request to postpone the trial based on Merchan being unqualified. On April 12, Merchan denied the defendant's request to delay trial based on "prejudicial" media coverage.
Gag Orders
In a May 2023 hearing and court filing, prosecutors expressed concern that Trump would misuse evidence obtained through the pretrial discovery procedure to attack people involved in the case, including witnesses. Justice Merchan declined to issue a gag order or prohibit Trump from publicly commenting about the case against him, but issued a protective order setting rules for the use of social media involving elements of the case, and set a hearing (with Trump to appear remotely) to explain the rules.
On February 26, 2024, the Manhattan DA asked for a gag order on Trump. On March 26, Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, restricting what he could say publicly about people involved in the case.
On March 7, 2024, Merchan ruled that the jury would be anonymous except for some involved in the trial, including Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. Merchan was expected to rule on prosecutor requests for a warning to Trump that he would lose access to juror information if he publicly disclosed those details, and for a gag order preventing him from making statements about people involved in the case (especially jurors and witnesses).[
On March 26, 2024, in a post on his Truth Social website, Trump attacked both Justice Merchan and his daughter. That day, Merchan imposed a gag order forbidding Trump to publicly comment on court staff, prosecutors, prospective jurors, or their families, or to cause others to make such statements, in a way that interferes with the case.
On March 27 and 28, Trump again referenced Merchan's daughter on social media. On March 29, Bragg asked Merchan to broaden the gag order so it would protect Bragg and Merchan's families, On April 1, Merchan did so, writing that Trump's continued attacks posed a "very real" threat to the integrity of proceedings and could cause those involved in the case to fear for themselves and their families, which would "undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself." On April 11, Trump disparaged expected witnesses Cohen and Daniels on social media, referring to them as dishonest "sleaze bags". On May 6, Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for the tenth time, but stated that he did not wish to jail Trump due to the fact that Trump was a former and potentially the next president.
Contempt hearings were later held concerning numerous alleged violations of the gag order. On May 14, a New York appeals court denied Trump's request to overturn the order.
Also on May 14, United States Senator Tommy Tuberville called the gag order "ridiculous" for stopping Trump "from having a say-so in his own trial"; Tuberville further said that members of Congress were attending the trial "to speak our piece for President Trump" and "overcome this gag order", and he hoped that "more and more" members of Congress would do so. Republican members of Congress, including Tuberville, J. D. Vance, Cory Mills, Nicole Malliotakis and Speaker Mike Johnson, have criticized witness Michael Cohen, while Byron Donalds, Rick Scott, Vance, and Johnson have criticized Merchan's daughter. New York magazine journalist Andrew Rice claimed that during Cohen's May 13 testimony, he saw Trump penning revision notes as to statements about the case from his Republican allies. On May 14, Trump commented that "I do have a lot of surrogates, and they're speaking very beautifully."
On May 20, speaking outside the courtroom, Trump mentioned witnesses Robert Costello and Michael Cohen.
Closing arguments and jury instructions
Later on May 21, arguments over jury instruction language were held. Merchan announced that the jury would be excused until the beginning of summations on May 28. Merchan stated that the closing arguments "will not be quick" and that he expected his final instructions to the jury to last an hour. On Memorial Day, May 27, Trump complained that the prosecution would get the last word as "very unfair", though this is standard procedure in criminal trials where the state has the burden of proof.
On May 28, the defense gave a three-hour closing argument including breaks. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche claimed Trump had nothing to do with checks which were written by Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Blanche questioned why prosecutors did not call Donald Jr. and Eric as witnesses despite their signing payment checks to Cohen. Blanche also showed an email revealing that McConnery sought approval from both Donald Jr. and Eric. Blanche alleged that it was Cohen's decision to make the hush-money payment and variously branded him a prolific liar. Blanche sought to discredit Daniels' ambitions, noting (among other things) text messages between her manager and publicist Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard which showed that Howard believed Pecker would pay for her story shortly after the Access Hollywood tape was released. Merchan admonished Blanche for telling the jury: "You cannot send someone to prison, you cannot convict somebody, based upon the words of Michael Cohen." Merchan said this type of comment is "highly inappropriate" and "not allowed", as the jury is instructed not to consider how Merchan might sentence Trump.
The same day, the prosecution gave a four-hour and 41 minute closing argument including breaks.Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass described Pecker's testimony as "utterly damning". Steinglass noted that some key parts of Daniels' story were proven true and noted that the defense appeared to acknowledge that Trump knew about the Daniels payment as early as 2017. Steinglass stated that it made sense that Cohen was interested in the outcome of the case, noting that Trump dropped him "like a hot potato" when their relationship soured. Steinglass argued that Cohen was Trump's "fixer" and that his knowledge was "limited to what actually happened". It was noted that Cohen did not work for the Trump Organization's legal department and answered directly to Trump. A footnote from the 2018 Office of Government Ethics form was shown, which stated that "In 2016 expenses were incurred by one of Donald J. Trump's attorneys, Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017."
Steinglass went over phone conversations between Trump and Cohen regarding the hush-money payment and showed a December 2017 check to Cohen signed via Sharpie by Donald Trump, arguing that the latter must have known the purpose of such checks, as his "entire business philosophy was and is to be involved in everything". Steinglass cited a 2018 tweet by Trump in which he acknowledged that Cohen was reimbursed for an NDA via a retainer agreement, but said it had "nothing to do with the campaign". Steinglass said the defense's characterization of the payments to Cohen was undermined by his lack of pay from Trump in 2018 despite Cohen doing legal work for him that year. Steinglass further stated that the payment was made to "hoodwink the American voter". At the end of closing arguments, Merchan said that jury instructions would be read on May 29 and were expected to last an hour.
Jury deliberations and verdict
On May 29, the jury began deliberations. A few hours in, they asked to hear a readback of about 30 minutes of testimony by Pecker and Cohen; the readback was held the following day. It regarded an August 2015 meeting between Pecker, Cohen, Trump, and Hicks, in which Pecker pledged to be Trump's "eyes and ears" regarding negative stories about him; additionally, the jury wanted to hear Pecker's testimony regarding an alleged phone call from Trump in which the two discussed a rumor that McDougal had gone to another outlet to publish her story.
On May 30 at 5:07 pm EDT, Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts, making him the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony. Merchan denied a defense motion for an acquittal.
After the trial, Trump called the trial a "disgrace", saying it was a "rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt". He had claimed that November 5, Election Day, would be the date of his "real verdict by the people" and that "this was long from over."
Bragg emphasized that the jury had reached a "unanimous conclusion" that Trump had falsified business records "to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors." He added: "I did my job."
Post-trial proceedings
Sentencing
Trump's sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 11, 2024. Before his conviction, officials in state and federal agencies began preparing for possible incarceration.
Appeal
Trump has a right to one level of appeal and is expected to use it. The appeal would be heard by the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, which is the intermediate state appellate court covering Manhattan. If unsuccessful, the next step would be the New York Court of Appeals, which has discretion whether to hear an appeal.
It has been argued that Trump could take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of its reliance on federal campaign finance limits (and not only New York state laws) or alleged violation(s) of due process.
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Verdict : Donald Trump found Guilty on all 34 Felony counts