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I’ll try to give a serious answer. He was convicted of a misdemeanor of false accounting. That wasn’t true because his accountant did the accounting using a drop down menu and testified that Trump had no knowledge, but...

The misdemeanor was raised to a felony (and thereby extended the statute of limitations) because it was to further another criminal act. This is where it gets tricky.

Since Trump had not been convicted of a criminal act, the jury had to find him guilty of one. They were given three choices:

1 - Violating the Federal Election Campaign Act, meaning Cohen’s payment to Daniels was a contribution to Trump’s campaign that exceeded the legal limit.

2 - Falsifying other business records, after Cohen created a fake shell company to send the Daniels payment in 2016.

3 - Violating tax laws by making false entries on tax returns related to the payment.

Oddly - and in direct violation of the Supreme Court - the jurors did not have to agree which of those three Trump was guilty of. I’ve read no one KNOWS if they agreed on one because the judge told them they did not need to.

Also, a jury in a state court cannot - I believe - find Trump guilty of federal crimes. That is why he normally would need to have been convicted of them in federal court FIRST.

But...the judge had no intention of letting the law stand in way of a conviction.

the jury had to find him guilty of one.

Also... none of those other crimes were in the charging document, so it was not the jury's place to find Trump guilty of any of them.

That was a violation of Trump's sixth amendment right "to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations" so that he can put on a proper defense.

The jury was basically told to presume guilt on any of those underlying crimes, which goes against the most basic tenet of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.

-PJ

RE: 1 - Violating the Federal Election Campaign Act, meaning Cohen’s payment to Daniels was a contribution to Trump’s campaign that exceeded the legal limit.

The non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump was signed on October 28, 2016. The NDA was designed to prevent Daniels from publicly discussing her alleged affair with Trump. How is the desire NOT to have a public scandal considered a contribution to a campaign, expecially since Cohen was reimbursed?

RE: Falsifying other business records, after Cohen created a fake shell company to send the Daniels payment in 2016.

Did Trump approve of this fake shell company? Or did Cohen do it by himself?

RE: Violating tax laws by making false entries on tax returns related to the payment.

So, it boils down to how the NDA should have been entered on tax returns. So my question still is this — if it was entered as a legal expense for the NDA, why is this not a legal expense, and if it isn’t considered a legal expense, how should it be entered as?

RE: Oddly - and in direct violation of the Supreme Court - the jurors did not have to agree which of those three Trump was guilty of.

Apparently the jury agreed on ALL counts since there was not one count the jury did not declate him guilty of.

He was convicted of a misdemeanor of false accounting.

No, each charge he was convicted of was a felony. He was not charged with any misdemeanors.

Since Trump had not been convicted of a criminal act, the jury had to find him guilty of one.

They didn't convict him of any other crime. All 34 counts were "Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree". The jury had to consider in their deliberations:

1) "Did Trump falsify a business record?" and

2) "Did Trump have intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof?".

Any juror who found that Trump didn't have intent to commit another crime would have to find him "Not Guilty". There was no option to find him guilty of a misdemeanor.