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What are the specific 34 felony counts in Donald Trump's New York indictment?
Executive summary
The New York indictment against Donald J. Trump charged him with 34 counts, each labeled as Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree; the Manhattan District Attorney’s office says the counts allege he “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records” tied to payments surrounding the 2016 election [1] [2]. The publicly available indictment document and media summaries list 34 discrete counts that track specific allegedly false entries in Trump Organization records related to reimbursements and payments [3] [4].
1. What the 34 counts are, in plain language
Each of the 34 counts in the Manhattan indictment accuses Trump of making or causing false entries in business records — formally, “Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree” — with prosecutors saying those entries were intended to conceal other unlawful activity connected to hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign. The DA’s announcement framed the charges as 34 separate instances of falsified records rather than a single aggregated charge [1] [2].
2. Where you can see the exact language and entries
The charging instrument itself is publicly posted by the Manhattan DA and reproduced by document repositories; it enumerates each count as a separate “count” tied to journal entries, vouchers, or ledger entries with dates, voucher numbers, and descriptions [3] [4]. Readings of the indictment in major outlets and archival sites reproduce those counts for readers who want the specific statutory citations and the alleged dates and transactions [2] [4].
3. Why prosecutors used multiple counts rather than one
Prosecutors charged 34 counts because New York’s falsifying-business-records statute allows each discrete false entry to be charged separately; the DA alleged a pattern of repeated false entries over time, so prosecutors opted to treat each entry as its own felony count [1] [3]. News summaries and legal commentaries emphasize that the indictment lists separate counts tied to specific ledger entries and reimbursements [2].
4. How the charges fit into larger allegations about the 2016 payment
The indictment connects the falsified records to a broader narrative that the business entries were used to conceal “damaging information and unlawful activity” relating to payments made to an adult film actor before the 2016 election; the DA’s statement explicitly links the alleged falsifications to efforts to hide those payments from voters [1] [2]. Media reporting summarized the case as alleging that those record entries masked reimbursements to Michael Cohen and related disbursements [2] [3].
5. What outcomes and subsequent reporting have recorded about these counts
Various outlets and reference sites note that the case proceeded to trial and that the New York jury found Trump guilty on the 34 counts at trial [5] [6] [7]. The conviction and its legal aftermath — appeals and questions about presidential immunity and other procedural issues — have been the subject of continued reporting and court filings [8] [9].
6. Points of dispute and alternative perspectives
Trump’s legal team has characterized the prosecution as politically motivated and has sought appeal and dismissal of verdicts, arguing bias and immunity issues; outlets covering the defense note those arguments and ongoing appeals [10] [9]. Meanwhile, prosecutors and reporting that covers the indictment emphasize the statutory elements and the detailed ledger-by-ledger approach in the charging document [1] [3]. Both themes appear across the record: detailed documentary allegations from the DA and vigorous constitutional and political defenses from Trump’s team [1] [10].
7. Limitations and what the available sources do not say
Available sources do not mention additional separate criminal counts beyond the 34 falsifying-business-records charges in that specific New York indictment as filed; the DA’s public release and the indictment document enumerate the 34 counts and do not add other state charges in that instrument [1] [3] [4]. If you are asking for a line-by-line transcription of all 34 count texts, the indictment PDF and document repositories contain the verbatim counts [3] [4].
8. Where to go next to verify the wording yourself
For precise statutory citations and the exact wording of each count, consult the Manhattan DA’s press release and the indictment PDF hosted by the DA’s office or on document sites that host court filings; those primary documents lay out each count and the date/voucher referenced [1] [3] [4]. Major news outlets’ case packages and legal trackers also reproduce the counts and summarize the prosecution’s theory [2] [6].
Summary note: The core factual claim — that the indictment contained 34 separate first-degree falsifying-business-records counts tied to alleged reimbursement entries and hush-money payments — is confirmed by the Manhattan DA’s announcement and the indictment document itself [1] [3] [4].