Have the 34 felony counts against Trump been dropped
Executive summary
No — the 34 felony counts from the New York hush‑money case were not “dropped” after the 2024 presidential election; a Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024, and while some federal prosecutions were later dismissed at prosecutors’ request, the New York conviction and its legal aftermath continued to proceed through sentencing and appeals [1] [2] [3].
1. What the 34 counts actually were and the verdict that followed
The 34 counts alleged violations of New York law — falsifying business records in the first degree — arising from payments tied to the Stormy Daniels matter, and a New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts on May 30, 2024, in what multiple outlets called a historic conviction of a former U.S. president [1] [2] [4].
2. The post‑election claim: “counts dropped” and where it appeared
Claims circulated on social and foreign language channels asserting that the 34 felony counts had been dropped after Trump’s election; fact‑checks from outlets such as Radio Free Asia and other reporting flagged those social posts as incorrect and noted that “charges” and “counts” were being conflated or misstated in viral messaging [5] [6].
3. What did happen to other prosecutions — federal cases versus the New York state case
Separately from the New York case, federal prosecutions brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith were dismissed at Smith’s request after the election, with a federal appeals court formally dropping the documents case following that request — but those federal dismissals do not equate to the New York state counts being dropped [3].
4. Sentencing, disposition and the practical status of the New York conviction
The New York case continued past conviction into sentencing; reporting shows Trump was sentenced on January 10, 2025, and the judge issued an unconditional discharge, meaning the conviction stands but the court imposed no penalty such as jail time, fines, or probation — an outcome commentators called unusual given the felony convictions [7] [8].
5. Appeals and legal routes that could alter the conviction, but not immediate “dropping”
Legal analysts and outlets noted ongoing appeals and possible procedural moves that could affect the practical life of the conviction — including arguments to move the case into federal court or other appellate strategies that might lead to reversal or vacatur — but those are normal post‑conviction processes and are not the same as prosecutors “dropping” the 34 counts immediately after the election [9] [10].
6. Why the “dropped counts” narrative spread and the key distinctions to keep in mind
Misinformation mixed separate developments — federal prosecutors withdrawing cases and ongoing appeals in the New York matter — into a single, misleading claim that the 34 state felony counts were dropped; authoritative fact checks emphasize the legal distinction between an indictment being dismissed, a conviction being reversed on appeal, and a prosecutor voluntarily dropping charges, and point out that the Manhattan indictment and jury verdict remain distinct from federal prosecutors’ post‑election decisions [5] [3] [6].
7. Bottom line
The 34 New York felony counts were not simply “dropped” after the presidential election: they resulted in a May 2024 conviction, proceeded to sentencing where an unconditional discharge was entered in January 2025, and remain the subject of appeals and legal challenges — whereas separate federal cases were later dismissed at prosecutors’ request [2] [7] [3] [9].