Philip Bump breaks it down: 1. The 34 charges center on how payments to attorney Michael Cohen were recorded — at 34 different times. The indictment centers on the previously reported effort in 2016 to bury a story alleging an extramarital relationship between Trump and adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. That effort involved a payment of $130,000 to Daniels paid by Michael Cohen, then Trump’s attorney. A statement of facts released by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg details the prosecutors’ case. Cohen, it alleges, agreed in consultation with Trump and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg that the attorney should receive $420,000 in reimbursement, a sum including enough for Cohen to offset the increase in federal income tax he would need to pay. According to the statement, this total was allegedly recorded on a bank statement (suggesting documentary evidence) and agreed to by Trump himself in an Oval Office meeting with Cohen. The sum was then repaid in a series of monthly checks that were allegedly recorded by the Trump Organization as being a monthly retainer for Cohen. That’s where the 34 charges accrue. There were 11 payments, in each month from February 2017 to December 2017. Each payment was recorded on the check and in ledgers as a retainer payment, despite the alleged lack of a legitimate retainer agreement. Falsification of business records in the second degree is a misdemeanor charge. If, however, the falsification is meant to cover up some other criminal act, it becomes a…