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Not to be that guy, but you're actually in the wrong here by adding incorrect information. It was not an election interference case. The 34 convictions were for charges of falsified business records. There's nothing actually illegal about paying someone to not talk to the press about something that might affect an election. The problem was how he tried to hide the payments.
But as stated during the trial, the reason he wanted to hide the Stormy stuff was to protect his campaign. So by making a deal with National Enquiry to catch and kill the story to protect his campaign, not his family, means it was a campaign finance violation because he tried to do it on the DL instead of declaring it the legal way.
And you're right that paying someone to stay silent isn't illegal (as long as the thing you're having them stay silent about itself is legal), but doing it in furtherance of his campaign without properly reporting it is illegal. So pretending it's just a casual falsified business records case is downplaying the election interference by trying to hide payouts to protect his campaign bid (electability).
Edit - it was the 2nd crime (election interference) that made each count a felony instead of a misdemeanor.