edit: I have changed my title to match the new NYTimes headline. Sorry about the all caps, I guess they are really excited about this lol
Also shoutout to @SayJess@lemmy.blahaj.zone who shared a gift article link in the comments. I hope you don’t mind but I kinda stole it and updated the post
according to The Guardian, for it to be considered a felony charge they had to prove that Trump did it with the intent to commit another crime; The other crime being a New York state law that says it is illegal for “any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means”
So the election interference charge form part of the existing charges without being separate charges in and of themselves
The main argument from prosecution to this end was that the encounter happened in 2006 (ish, I might be off) but the hush money wasn’t an issue until the election campaign. Therefore, they argued, it was paid (and covered up with false business records) to influence the election.