The Manhattan jury that convicted Donald Trump on Thursday had to unanimously find that the former president falsified business records with the “intent” of concealing another crime.
Prosecutors say the crime violates New York state law that makes it illegal to participate in a “conspiracy” to get someone elected to public office through “unlawful means.”
Prosecutors said the conspiracy included making hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump in order to prevent a sex scandal from damaging his chances of winning the 2016 election.
But the jury did not have to unanimously agree on what “unlawful means” were, and Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Marchan gave the jury three options:
The judge said the payment exceeded the $2,700 limit for an individual contribution to a campaign and could be found to violate federal campaign finance law, but only if it is determined that the payment would not have been made even if Trump had not been running for office.
Jurors could also find that the payments violated tax laws or that more business records were “falsified” during the course of the alleged conspiracy.
But the verdict book filled out by the jury included check marks next to 34 charges against Trump of falsifying business records, but did not detail what “unlawful means” they believed underpinned the conspiracy.
