Trump. Guilty.

For most, this is a black and white issue. It shouldn't be.

It’s only May and I’m sure you’re just as tired as I am of the race for the Presidency. Unfortunately, besides the standard meaningless blips and burps coming from either candidate, there remains consequential and important issues that will have long-lasting effects in our republic long after both Trump and Biden are gone.

Yesterday’s decision was one of those, and I want to give my perspective.

Here’s what I believe to be true:

• Donald Trump did have an extramarital affair with a porn star (Stormy Daniels) while his wife, Melania, was pregnant with Barron in 2006.

• Donald Trump told his attorney, Michael Cohen, to pay off Stormy Daniels and have her sign an NDA to avoid the story causing damage (I’ll elaborate on this “damage” later) in 2016.

• Donald Trump did falsify business documents in an effort to cover this up by classifying those hush money payments as a “retainer”.

I think most rational people examining the evidence will agree that the above seems to be true.

I suppose it’s possible that there was no affair, though I’m not sure why you’d pay somebody off ten years later if that was the case. Furthermore, there seems to be witnesses who recall the story of the affair dating back to at least 2007. Daniels also did an interview about the affair in 2011.

It’s also possible that Michael Cohen made the payments to Stormy Daniels on behalf of his client, without that client’s knowledge, and with no plan to be reimbursed. Yes, that’s possible, but extremely unlikely. Furthermore, everybody involved (except Donald Trump) says that he was aware of the payments and authorized them. It’s also possible that Trump made equivalent payments to Michael Cohen after the payments to Daniels were made.

What I don’t think is disputable is that the payments were made to Stormy Daniels and that there were equal payments made to Michael Cohen.

With all that said, the above points can all be factual with the below being factual as well:

• The Manhattan District Attorney campaigned on going after Donald Trump. Yes, he was somewhat clever about it, but his previous investigations into Trump were heavily advertised.

• The judge overseeing the case, Judge Juan Merchan, did make a small contribution to the Biden campaign, which is prohibited by New York law.

• The charges brought against Trump were unique and the legal theory behind them untested.

Now, I’m not an attorney (thank God), but I do have a few friends that are attorneys (thank God), and they gave me different takes and opinions on the charges, trial, and conviction. I’ll do my best to explain this in layman’s terms:

The 34 felony charges (original indictment document) against Donald Trump are for falsifying business records with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime. Usually, falsifying business records carries a misdemeanor charge in New York, but it’s the “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime” that bumps it to a felony.