The Manhattan district attorney's office has been investigating Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.
The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office began when Trump was still in the White House and relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump's then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.
Prosecutors were also weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying business records in the first degree for allegedly falsifying a record with the intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal another crime, which in this case could be a violation of campaign finance laws. That is a Class E felony and carries a sentence of a minimum of one year and as much as four years. To prove the case, prosecutors would need to show Trump intended to commit a crime.
Trump's advisers and allies have expressed concern about the former president potentially being tried in Manhattan, pointing to the borough's predominately Democratic-voting population as a reason he will not get a fair trial. As for the former president's initial court appearance, it'll look, in some ways, like that of any other defendant, and in others, look very different.
That alone makes it historic. But Trump is currently a few months into his third White House bid, and his criminal case jolts the 2024 presidential campaign into a new phase, as the former president has vowed to keep running in the face of criminal charges.That's one of many big questions here. So far, a number of congressional Republicans have rallied to Trump's defense, attacking Bragg on Twitter and accusing the district attorney of a political witch hunt.
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