Alternative Fact
“Nondisclosure agreements – they’re not illegal. And by the way, the NDA is not even an issue in dispute in this case. Nobody is disputing it happened. As for the phantom secondary crime that Bragg (the Manhattan District Attorney) is using to upcharge what is a 7-year-old misdemeanor whose statute of limitations, as we have been telling you, has expired to a felony, well no one knows yet what that the crime really is.”
Sean Hannity, on the charges against Trump in the Stormy Daniels case, 5/14/2024
Fact
Falsifying business records in the first degree is a felony under New York state law that requires that the “intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof”. This is in contrast to falsifying business records in the second degree, which is a misdemeanor that does not have that requirement. In later filings, Bragg listed three such crimes that Trump allegedly intended to commit: violation of federal campaign finance limits, violation of state election laws by unlawfully influencing the 2016 election, and violation of state tax laws regarding the reimbursement.
Wikipedia Article on the prosecution of Donald Trump in New York, which summarizes the premise that the hidden NDA payments were used in part to influence the 2016 election.