It seems as if it’s all catching up to Donald Trump: the lies, the outrage, the cheating, the scandal, the boasting, the outrageous claims. - Kai vejsada, 7th grade
Trump fans were outraged when on March 30 he was indicted by a Manhattan Grand Jury for his alleged role in a scandal relating to hush money payments to the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels during the U.S. presidential election of 2016.
As of right now, Trump has been charged with 34 felonies on account of using a catch-and-kill method to suppress negative news stories about him before the 2016 election that might have impacted the election outcome. Trump’s former personal lawyer paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair that she had with Trump. Trump denies actually having an affair but does admit to reimbursing his lawyer. According to Forbes, the charges carry a maximum 136 years in prison under New York law.
Trump may argue that Michael Cohen (his lawyer) acted on his own in paying the hush money to Daniels. When Cohen testified in 2018 that Trump had instructed him to pay the actress, Trump repeatedly called Cohen a “liar” and could attempt to undermine Cohen's credibility by pointing out he had admitted to perjuring himself in front of Congress. Trump could also argue that the money was not to stop the change in the election but to stop personal and embarrassing news from spreading.
Aside from this case, Trump has been plagued with criminal accusations for years, including recent charges of destroying several presidential records from 2017-2022. According to CNN “Three former white house officials saw Trump manually destroy papers he had no interest in or was finished reviewing In addition, the Trump Organization has also been convicted on 17 criminal charges. The charges consist of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Trump.com was fined 1.6$ million. Since his campaign launch in 2015, he has been accused of 53 uncharged crimes, not including the ones listed previously. Trump's trial is expected to start somewhere around the spring of 2024.
