Trump’s hush money case: by the numbers
- Trump is guilty of 34 charges and faces up to 20 years in jail
- The case is the first of four criminal cases to make it to trial
- It may be the only one to be tried before the November election
(NewsNation) — A jury has found former President Donald Trump guilty of felony charges for falsifying business records in an effort to keep information from voters ahead of the 2016 election.
The jury, made up of seven men and five women, delivered the verdict after nearly 12 hours of deliberation.
Trump was found guilty on all 34 criminal charges in New York federal court.
Sentencing is still to come, where Trump could face fines, probation or prison time. The verdict does not disqualify him from continuing to run for the presidency.
Here’s how the case breaks down by the numbers:
34 charges
Trump has been convicted of 34 charges in the New York criminal case, including 11 counts of falsified invoices, 12 counts of falsified general ledger entries and 11 counts of falsely recording hush money payments.
All 34 counts are felonies.
$310,000
At the heart of the trial were $310,000 worth of hush money payments made prior to the 2016 election in an effort to suppress stories of Trump’s alleged affairs. Those include a $30,000 payment to a Trump doorman, made by American Media, Inc., which owns the National Enquirer, a $150,000 payment from AMI to a woman who claimed to have had an affair with Trump and $130,000 made to an adult film actress who allegedly slept with Trump.
Hush money payments themselves aren’t necessarily illegal but may become illegal if done in connection to another crime or as blackmail. In this case, the payments are being considered illegal campaign contributions, making them a violation of campaign finance law.
22 witnesses
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called 20 witnesses while making his case and Trump’s legal team summoned two witnesses to the stand.
Star witnesses included former Trump fixer Michael Cohen — who has already pleaded guilty to federal charges of campaign finance violations — as well as former Trump aide Hope Hicks and AMI CEO David Pecker.
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who received one of the payments, also took the stand with salacious testimony about her alleged sexual interaction with Trump.
17 days of testimony
Prosecutors spent 15 days laying out their case and the defense team took just two to make arguments.
Bragg’s team alleged that Trump was aware records were being falsified to cover up the nature of hush money payments made in an effort to mislead voters prior to the 2016 election. The defense, meanwhile, has disputed testimony from Daniels and Cohen and attempted to distance Trump from the payments.
18 New Yorkers
Seven men and five women ultimately make up the jury that will decide Trump’s fate, along with six alternates who were selected in case a juror was unable to complete their service in the case. The jurors range from health care workers to lawyers and aren’t all native New Yorkers, coming from other states and even countries.
$10,000
Judge Juan Merchan fined Trump a total of $10,000 for 10 violations of a gag order that prevented Trump from attacking employees of the court (with exceptions for Merchan and Bragg) and family members of those involved in the case.
20 years in jail
The maximum sentence Trump could face is 20 years in jail. While each felony count carries up to four years in jail, adding up to 136 years, New York law limits the sentence for this type of crime to a maximum of 20 years.
Should Trump go to prison, he won’t be going alone, as the Secret Service will have to go with him to continue his protection.
Not all first-time offenders go to jail, however, and Merchan will have the opportunity to give a lesser sentence which could include fines and/or some combination of probation or community service. The fine for falsifying business records as a felony count is $5,000, though it’s not entirely clear if that would be per count, with a maximum fine of $170,000 or a $5,000 total fine.
$100M+
Between this case and the others that have yet to go to trial, along with civil cases, Trump has racked up more than $100 million in legal bills.
He’s paid a lot of those bills with money from campaign donations made to PACs, raising legal questions about how he’s covering the costs.
3 cases remaining
Regardless of what happens in New York, Trump is still facing two federal criminal cases and a criminal case in Georgia. However, it’s appearing increasingly unlikely that those will go to court before the November 2024 election.
Trump’s Georgia election interference case is on hold pending Trump’s appeal of a judge’s decision to allow Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case despite her romantic involvement with former Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. Wade stepped down from the case after the judge’s decision.
The federal election interference case against Trump, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, is also delayed while the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s claims that presidents should have absolute immunity.
The Court hasn’t ruled yet, but one possible outcome is for the case to be sent back to the lower courts which would mean more delays.
Trump is also facing charges for unlawfully retaining and improperly storing classified documents after he left office. That case, also brought by Smith, has been put on indefinite hold by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee.
Cannon cited arguments about how classified evidence should be handled as the reason, but others have blamed incompetence or accused her of making the decision to help Trump stall his cases until after the election.
1 election
Even though Trump has been found guilty in one case, he is still able to run for president. He is also eligible to run and serve even if he is in prison, though it’s not entirely clear how that would work.
Running from behind bars isn’t entirely without precedent. In 1920, socialist Eugene Debs ran for the presidency from a federal prison while serving time for sedition after urging people to resist the draft.
The multiple criminal cases against Trump haven’t dimmed support from Republican voters but there is polling that indicates a conviction could sway moderate and swing voters when it comes to the ballot box.