Donald Trump says the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records he was convicted of Thursday sound worse than they are.
A jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to cover up a hush money payment to an adult film star shortly before the 2016 election. The case hinged on how reimbursement for the payment was documented, and whether it was part of an effort to aid his election bid.
“Falsifying business records — that sounds so bad, to me it sounds very bad,” Trump said.
“That’s a bad thing for me, I’ve never had that before,” he added.
But Trump disputed that characterization of his crimes, saying he had a legal expense — paying lawyer Michael Cohen — and that it was documented as a legal expense.
A bookkeeper “correctly marked it down in the books,” the former president said, claiming that was done “without any knowledge from me.”
“What else are you going to call it?” Trump said.
CNN
