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More details about the allegations facing Donald Trump in the case over his alleged payment of hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels were revealed on Tuesday in a court filing by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Trump was arrested and arraigned last month on 34 counts of falsifying business records, which he denies, making him the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges. These are normally misdemeanor charges but can be upgraded to a felony if there's another crime involved. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied any wrongdoing.
Polling shows Trump is the current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, meaning the legal action against him could have a major impact on who occupies the White House from January 2025 onwards.
The court filing set out which laws Trump may have violated: NY Election Law 17-152, NY Tax Law 1801(a)(3) & 1802, NY Penal Law 175.05 & 175.10, and Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 USC 30101.
Speaking to Newsweek, former Los Angeles County prosecutor and criminal defense attorney with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, Joshua Ritter, explained what this means in practice.
He said: "The election and tax laws that Bragg's office has cited as underlying crimes are fairly straightforward. The election laws simply involve using unlawful means to gain an advantage in a political campaign and failing to disclose how funds are used in a campaign. The tax statutes just relate to submitting false or fraudulent information in a tax return."
The charges relate to the alleged payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, a former pornographic actress, to cover up a reported affair with Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied having sexual relations with Daniels along with any financial wrongdoing.
Trump's legal team had requested more details on the allegations against the former president, sparking Tuesday's court filing.
Ritter explained: "Donald Trump's attorneys requested a bill of particulars from Alvin Bragg's office because they know Bragg's attempt to tie the crime of falsifying business records to campaign finance violations is a fairly novel approach. They hope that if Bragg's office spells out the details of the alleged campaign finance and tax violations, it will provide opportunities for them to challenge the validity of those underlying crimes.
"If there's no legal basis to say Trump committed these underlying crimes, then that would eliminate the foundation for Bragg to bump up the charged crime of falsifying business records from misdemeanor counts to felony counts. And then it's game over."
However, whilst the District Attorney's Office did provide some additional information, it also said Trump "has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense," and thus is not entitled to all the additional information his team is requesting.
Ritter told Newsweek he thinks prosecutors should provide Trump with more "specifics" about the case against him, given how "novel" it is.
He commented: "Trump's attorneys have good reason to ask for more details on exactly how he supposedly violated these laws. The motion prosecutors filed on Tuesday did repeat their earlier assertions that there was an agreement to unlawfully suppress negative stories about Trump's affair with Stormy Daniels and that reimbursement payments to Michael Cohen were doubled for tax reasons.
"But so far, Bragg's office has been able to get away with somewhat vague descriptions of the underlying crimes. With a case as novel as this one, where a Manhattan DA is invoking federal election law, it would probably make sense for the judge to require prosecutors to provide a few more specifics than they have so far."
On May 9, a Manhattan jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and later defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, who was awarded $5 million in damages. Trump denies assaulting Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room during the 1990s, as she has alleged.
Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump for comment via the contact form on his official website.
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is on covering news and politics ... Read more