This obscure N.Y. election law is at the heart of Trump’s hush money trial

An obscure New York state election law that has rarely been prosecuted over five decades has been dusted off by Manhattan prosecutors and elevated to a prominent role in Donald Trump’s criminal trial over allegedly falsifying documents related to a hush money payment during the 2016 election campaign. The law — Section 17-152 of the state’s election code — makes it a misdemeanor for two or more people to “conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.” Trump is not being charged under that statute, which apparently has been used only a few times in cases related to state or local elections, though it is a key factor in his case. The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up $130,000 paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her allegations of a sexual affair hidden from voters. If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison.

In bringing the felony charges, prosecutors are required to prove not just that Trump doctored records, but that he did so to commit or conceal another crime. The underlying crime that motivated Trump’s alleged misconduct, prosecutors said in court, was a conspiracy to defraud voters in his presidential campaign. “The primary crime that we have alleged is New York state election law section 17-152,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan during Trump’s trial on April 23. “There is conspiracy language in the statute. The entire case is predicated on the idea that there was a conspiracy to influence the election in 2016.” Some observers have criticized the case, filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year, as a dubious legal move that seeks to tie the records falsification case against Trump to an election conspiracy for which he is not directly facing charges. Prosecutors say Trump falsely recorded payments to his then-attorney Michael Cohen as a legal retainer instead of what they really were: reimbursement for the payoff to Daniels. In legal filings last year, Bragg’s team members cited statute 17-152 as one of three possible underlying crimes to help make their case. The others they cited were that Trump sought to skirt New York tax laws and that he violated federal campaign finance regulations.