In court filings, prosecutors said 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.”
Cohen has said he made the payment at Trump’s direction, and Trump had acknowledged repaying Cohen through payments that were labeled as legal expenses. Prosecutors called that argument a"concession" that Trump's actions in the case were personal, not presidential. They added that"no presidential duty or responsibility obligated defendant to have Cohen make the $130,000 payment to an adult film actress in October 2016, to agree to reimburse Cohen for that payment before his inauguration in January 2017, and then to make regular payments in 2017 to satisfy his pre-existing and pre-presidential debt."