Trump was ultimately convicted this past spring on 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to cover up a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. But he successfully leveraged the charges against him in New York and several other jurisdictions as outlaw branding—his Georgia mug shot became a defining image of his campaign—and in winning the 2024 election,

A judge indefinitely postponed Trump’s sentencing and allowed his legal team to file a motion for dismissal. But the conviction wasn’t overturned.