evidence: Prosecutors alleged that Trump altered financial records in order to hide the paper trail from a payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence on a purported affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has long denied Daniels’s allegations. The verdict wraps up a legal process that began in April 2023 when Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled a 34-count indictment of Trump, the first of the four cases filed against him that year. [...] Blanche downplayed the prosecution’s argument that there was a conspiracy to hide unsavory information in order to get Trump elected. "It doesn’t matter if there was a conspiracy to try to win an election. Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate," Blanche said. [...] The first test of this new partnership was a circulating story about a Trump Tower doorman who was shopping details about an alleged lovechild of Trump’s. Cohen testified that he advised Trump on it and that he told him to "handle it." He described keeping tabs on Pecker and National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard as they moved to acquire the doorman’s story, updating Trump as the deal progressed. Cohen said he went to Trump immediately when the $30,000 deal was struck, wanting to ensure he got credit for his work. "That’s great," Trump reportedly said.