Politics

Trump charges rarely pursued as ‘top count’ or earn convictions in NY: report

The charges filed against Donald Trump in Manhattan are rarely the most serious counts brought against white-collar defendants in New York and se𓆉ldom result in a felony conviction, a report said Wednesday. 

Trump was hit with 34 counts of felony falsifying business records with intent to commit or conceal anot🔴her crime, which carry a maximum of four years in prison for each count.&nbs🐻p;

But it’s rare for state prosecutors to pursue indictments that list the charge as the so💫-called “top count” or only rap, .🐓 

While the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has filed the felony charge 117 times in the 15 months since Alvin Bragg has been in ⛎office, it has pursued it as the top count in just a handful of cases, according to the report. 

The newspaper reported there have been “roughly eight times🌳” in the past🍸 “few years” when the Manhattan DA has prosecuted it as the top or only count. 

Donald Trump
Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts, each of which carries a maximum of four years in prison. POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The most common result in cases that include felony falsification of✤ business records is a guilty plea to disorderly conduct, a violation, the Times Union reported. 

At a press conference after Trump’s arraignment Tuesday, Bragg said his office has a long history of white-collar prosecutions and called the charge filed against Trump the “bread and butter” of his prosecutors’ related work. 

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Donald Trump was indicted on 34 felony counts by a Manhattan grand jury. New York State Unified Court System

From 2019 to 2021, the Manhattan DA filed 168 counts of felony falsification of business🦩 records against 34 defendants or companies, including against the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corp. 

A gr🐻and jury indicted Trump on ♕the 34 counts for allegedly illegally reimbursing Michael Cohen for hush-money payments he made ahead of the 2016 election, including to porn star Stormy Daniels. 

Trump allegedly concealed the payment as a legal expense. Bragg alleges Trump did so as part𓄧 of a criminal con🅠spiracy to undermine the 2016 election by hiding his alleged affair, while also evading New York state taxes.