Trump Indictment In Hush Money Case: What Law Did He Violate? Can He Still Run For President?

The 76-year-old former Republican president, who ruled the country for four years till January 2021, was arrested when he arrived to surrender at the Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday.

Washington: Donald Trump continues to be America’s most controversial leader. Now he has become the first former US president to be criminally charged. Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury over the hush money payment made to an adult star during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has however, pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records at his arraignment in a Manhattan court.

The 76-year-old former Republican president, who ruled the country for four years till January 2021, was arrested when he arrived to surrender at the Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday.

Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, a stone-faced Trump walked into the courtroom with his steps heavy and slow and said “not guilty” in a firm voice while facing the judge. He has denied any wrongdoing and called the indictment “political persecution” before State Supreme Court Justice Juan M Merchan and predicted it would damage Democrats in 2024.

He criticised the indictment, saying he is “going through a fake investigation” that “turned out to be a sham.” “Let me be as clear as possible: I am Innocent. The only offense I have committed is to defend America from those who seek to destroy it. What we’ve witnessed is election interference in the highest order,” he said.

The three hush money cases in Trump indictment

The criminal charges that Trump is now facing are from three separate instances in which the former president and his associates are accused of making hush money payments during his 2016 campaign: to two women to suppress information about extramarital sexual encounters they said they had with years earlier, and to a onetime Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he alleged Trump had out of of wedlock.

1. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg first listed the incident involving a former Trump Tower doorman who was paid $30,000 after he claimed he had information about a child who Trump had out of wedlock. That doorman, Dino Sajudin, received the payment from the parent company of the National Enquirer in exchange for signing over the rights, “in perpetuity,” to a rumor that the president had fathered a child with an employee at Trump World Tower, a skyscraper he owns near the United Nations.

2. The prosecutor also cited the case of Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who received $150,000 from American Media after claiming she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s.  The National Enquirer’s parent company has acknowledged that the payments were done specifically to help Trump’s presidential campaign.

3. The third case involves the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who was paid $130,000 (Rs 1.06 crore) in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter with Trump at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, in 2006. Trump has denied the encounter. Bragg said that 12 days before the election on Nov. 8, 2016, Cohen had wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer by using a shell corporation funded through a Manhattan bank.

What laws did Trump violate?

It is against New York state law to make a false entry in a company’s records. While falsification of business records on its own is a misdemeanor, meaning it is punishable by a sentence of less than one year, it is considered a felony punishable by up to four years in prison if it is done to conceal or further other crimes.

In this case, Bragg said those other crimes include alleged election law violations.

What it means for his Presidential bid

While some believe that an indictment would be really bad for Trump’s Presidential bid, it is highly likely that it will boost support for him. Trump can easily play a victim card, especially in this case, which is 7 years old now. Conservatives believe that Trump is being held to a different standard of justice.

An indictment or even a criminal conviction is not going to stop Trump from continuing his Presidential campaign as there is nothing in US law that prevents a candidate who is found guilty of a crime from campaigning or serving as the President, even from jail.

As Trump is arrested, it would be much more difficult for him to do the campaigning, but it might also lead to the Republican voters rallying around him.