Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The underlying events relate to a payment of $130,000 to the adult film actress
Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election campaign.
The money was intended to stop Daniels from going public with her allegation that she had a sexual encounter with Trump roughly a decade previously.
The payment to Daniels was made by Trump’s then-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen. Later, legal retainer payments totaling $420,000 were made from Trump’s business to Cohen.
The prosecution’s case is that these were falsely filed as business expenses with the aim of concealing the fact Daniels had been paid off.