With President Joe Biden’s poll numbers sinking and inflation rising, Democrats have achieved another historic feat this week: convicting a former president on felony charges for the first time in U.S. history.
The Manhattan criminal trial, led by Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg, entered its final stage on Thursday. After just 10 hours of deliberation, and a request to re-hear testimony from tabloid publisher David Pecker and President Trump’s disbarred former counsel Michael Cohen, the jury returned a guilty verdict against President Donald Trump on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. President Trump is now awaiting his sentencing hearing in July. He is expected to appeal.
Here’s the latest information you need to know about each case.
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Manhattan, New York: Prosecution by DA Alvin Bragg for NDA Payment
How we got here: In this New York state criminal case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — who The New York Times acknowledged had “campaigned as the best candidate to go after the former president” — charged former President Donald Trump with 34 felony charges for alleged falsification of business records. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement in which she agreed not to publicize her claims that she had an affair with Trump (who denies the allegations). Nondisclosure agreements are not illegal, but Bragg claims Trump concealed the payment to help his 2016 election chances and in doing so was concealing a “crime.”
