Trump to be charged Tuesday with 34 felony counts, but spared handcuffs and mug shot

[FBaggins]

53. Looks like the charges fit their talking points

Pretty close anyway.

34 essentially identical counts of the same charge - all of which would be misdemeanors that would be outside of the statute of limitations were it not for "with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime"

The indictment doesn't seem to expand on that, but it's almost certainly either campaign finance related (which will be tough to get past the argument that it's a federal crime that DOJ has declined to prosecute) or the intent to hide the dirty laundry from the electorate (which will be hard to prove over alternative explanations like avoiding his wife finding out or hurting his business).

In short - those Democratic analysts who said that the NY charges are likely the weakest of the possible sources of indictments - where probably correct. But the case will probably play out over many months and at least have an impact on the nomination process.