The charges against former president Donald Trump in his New York hush money case are almost never brought in other circumstances, according to The New York Times.
In the past decade, just two other felony cases have been brought in Manhattan indicting defendants for falsifying business records without another crime, the NYT reported Tuesday. Trump was indicted last April in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor, but Bragg was able to charge them as felonies using the reasoning that they were done to hide another crime, though he did bring charges for the other crime, the NYT reported. Most felony charges brought for falsifying business records include another crime, according to the NYT.