Trump charged in hush-money case to boost 2016 election chances

Prosecutors led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to a "catch-and-kill" scheme to suppress negative news stories about him ahead of the 2016 election. During the campaign, Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence on an affair she says she had with Trump. Trump denies the allegations and the affair. He has called Bragg's probe a politically motivated "witch hunt" and pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance Tuesday.

Taken together, the charges carry a maximum of 136 years in prison under New York law, but any prison sentence following a guilty verdict would almost certainly be far less than that. Trump will almost certainly appeal any conviction.