In a historic move that saw the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president, a Manhattan jury was presented with charges against Donald Trump on Monday, related to a purported conspiracy to affect the 2016 presidential election outcome through secretive financial dealings. According to the prosecution, Trump led a scheme centered on hush money payments, which they claim was aimed at manipulating electoral integrity.
Trump hush money trial updates : Details of the Charges Against Trump
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records, connected to payments totaling $280,000 made to silence two women about alleged affairs, claims Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. These payments include $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, which the prosecution argues was cloaked as legal fees to Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
“This case is about a criminal conspiracy,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo emphasized to the jury. He painted a picture of Trump as the mastermind behind efforts to skew the electoral process and subsequently conceal these acts by repeatedly lying in business documents.
Allegations of a Broad Conspiracy
The prosecution described a 2015 meeting where Trump, Cohen, and the CEO of American Media Inc., which owned the National Enquirer, allegedly conspired to suppress damaging information about Trump during the election campaign. This meeting was said to be the genesis of subsequent hush money operations.
