Stormy Daniels and the hush-money conviction

Paying someone for silence is not a crime. The charges were about how Trump repaid Michael Cohen in 2017: through monthly checks recorded as legal fees under a nonexistent retainer. Prosecutors counted 34 records, 11 invoices, 12 ledger entries and 11 checks, and a jury found every one of them false. [1]

Falsifying records is a misdemeanor in New York unless done to hide another crime. Prosecutors said the other crime was a state law against conspiring to promote an election “by unlawful means.” The jury had to agree unanimously that he conspired to promote his election unlawfully, but not on which unlawful means, which could include federal campaign-finance violations, false tax filings or other false records. [2]

Trump denies the encounter with Daniels and calls the case political. On 10 January 2025 Justice Juan Merchan gave him an unconditional discharge: no penalty, but a felony conviction on the record. [3][4]

Trump’s October 2025 appeal argues that federal law preempts the state election theory, that the jury heard evidence about official acts that the Supreme Court’s 2024 immunity decision should have excluded, that the jury instructions were flawed, and that the judge should have stepped aside. [1]

Prosecutors answered in July 2026 that the evidence was overwhelming and that the official-acts testimony was a small part of a case about private conduct. [2]

Trump also tried to move the case to federal court, where he could argue immunity. After an appeals court told him to take another look, Judge Alvin Hellerstein refused again on 28 August 2026, finding that paying hush money was private conduct. [3]