What prosecutors need to prove for a jury to convict Donald Trump

In 20 days over five weeks, after 22 witnesses and more than 200 documents, Manhattan prosecutors and defense attorneys have rested their cases in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

The former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records – misdemeanor crimes on their own, but “stepped up” to more serious felony charges that Mr Trump committed fraud with the intent to commit or conceal another crime.

Next week, New York Justice Juan Merchan will give jurors crucial instructions that will frame how they think about the testimony and evidence, and they will start deliberating as soon as 29 May, setting in motion what could potentially be thefirst-ever criminal verdict against a US president.

But to find him guilty of those charged felonies, jurors must find that prosecutors have proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Mr Trump not only falsified business records but did so in order to commit or conceal another crime.

Prosecutors will have to walk jurors through the Russian-nesting doll of coverups and crimes within crimes at the heart of a hush money scheme involving tabloid publishers, a Playboy model, an adult film star, White House aides and a disbarred lawyer: Mr Trump violated federal election law, by violating state election conspiracy law, by falsifying records.

State law says that “another” crime doesn’t necessarily need to have been committed, but prosecutors must prove that Mr Trump made an intent to commit one or to cover it up.

The prosecution has grounded the case in a relatively straightforward narrative: Mr Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking publicly about having sex with Mr Trump, and then Mr Trump approved a series of