What is the charge against Donald Trump?

The impeachment against former President Donald Trump in New York stems from hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The $130,000 payment was made by then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen as part of a scheme to “catch and kill” damaging stories about the real estate mogul’s marital infidelities.

Cohen has said he made the secret payment at Trump’s direction and was later reimbursed for the “legal” services by the Trump Organization, the former president’s real estate company.

Cohen pleaded guilty in connection with the case in 2018, but federal prosecutors did not indict Trump, leaving the Manhattan district attorney to pursue the case under state law.

In court documents from 2018, federal prosecutors exposed how Cohen, working at Trump’s behest, tried to prevent the candidate’s accusers from going public with their allegations during the 2016 campaign.

‘Catch and Kill’

Along with Cohen, a key player in the effort was David Pecker, president of American Media Inc. (AMI), the company that at the time published the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.

A longtime friend of Trump’s, Pecker had offered to “help deal with negative stories about relationships.” [de Trump] con las mujeres” by identifying stories that could be bought and then suppressed. The practice is known in the publishing industry as “catch and kill.”

In August 2016, AMI agreed to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. The story was shelved.

Two months later, a representative for Daniels informed AMI that the porn star was going public with her account of a sexual encounter with Trump and that she was willing to sell her story.

Unable to close a deal with Daniels, Pecker contacted his agent with Cohen, who negotiated a $130,000 deal to “purchase [su] silence,” prosecutors wrote in August 2018.

Paying hush money is not illegal. But federal prosecutors charged that classifying the payment as a “statutory hold” fee violated federal campaign finance laws.

Trump has acknowledged that Cohen was refunded the $130,000 paid to Daniels to stop what he called his “false and extortion charges.”

But he denied that the payment was a “campaign contribution.”

While the precise charges against the former president remain sealed, legal experts say they likely center on falsifying business records.

Under New York law, falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor. But when done with the intent to commit or conceal another crime, it rises to the level of a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

It is unclear what, if any, additional criminal offenses Trump has been charged with.

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