It may not be a crime to pay a sexworker for sex.
It may not be a crime to pay a sexworker for silence.
But is sure as heck IS a crime to list any of those payments as "legal expenses" (which are tax deductible) on your official paperwork.
In Trump's New York hush money trial he is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business documents. That's the actual crime he is charged with.
One more wrinkle: that crime can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on whether it was done with the aim or objective of committing another crime (extra wrinkle: the other crime doesn't have to have been proven in a separate court). In such cases, the other crime is called an object offense.
In his filing, Bragg sets out four potential object offenses: violations of federal campaign finance law under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA); violations of New York Election Law § 17-152; violations of federal, local, and state tax law; and additional falsifications of business records outside the Trump Organization. Merchan allowed Bragg to move forward with the first three theories but tossed out the last one.
Looks like both Trump and Cohen filed false tax documents based on the payments, so the "violations of federal, local, and state tax law" (3rd object offense) looks like it will hold up. There are additional witnesses to say the hush money was paid for campaign purposes. That'll enable the 1st & 2nd object offenses.
This is mostly a documents case. There are written notes about paying Cohen back and tax impacts. There are 12 checks from Trump to Cohen. The witnesses are there mostly to tell the story to the jury and explain the meanings of the documents.
