On the Record

[Intro] One name. Separate cases. Different courts. Different dates. Read the charge. Read the ruling. Put the beat beneath the page. [Verse 1] Twenty-sixteen / three suits over real-estate instruction, Trump University / allegations of deception. Students said the program hadn't matched what they'd been sold, Trump defended what it taught as those civil suits unfolded. Twenty-five million dollars / a settlement agreed, No admission of wrongdoing in the terms the parties reached. No criminal verdict came from settling those claims, That's the resolution filed underneath that name. Twenty-nineteen / foundation funds and campaign coordination, Two million ordered paid through the civil litigation. Eight charities received it / equal portions of the sum, Two hundred fifty thousand was the share for every one. The foundation was dissolved under court supervision, Trump admitted misuse as part of that resolution. Set those cases side by side / each outcome has a page, Different facts and remedies at a different legal stage. [Pre-Chorus] What was alleged? (Read the claim.) What did they find? (Name the case.) How did it end? (Check the date.) Turn the page / let the record play. [Chorus] On the record / let the record play, Every case has a number, every ruling has a day. What was alleged? / What did they find? Put the name and the date on the very same line. On the record / let the record run, An appeal is a chapter till the process is done. Different courts, different rules in the pages we trace, Turn the record over / take it case by case. [Verse 2] May of twenty-three / nine jurors weighed the case, E. Jean Carroll's testimony / conduct, time and place. Sexual abuse and defamation / liable, they found, Five million in the damages the jury wrote down. Trump denied her allegations and appealed that decision, Civil liability / distinct from criminal conviction. January, twenty-four / a second damages trial, Earlier statements at issue in a separate civil file. Eighty-three point three million / the second jury's sum, Compensatory, punitive / the damages combined as one. December, twenty-four / five million was affirmed, The Second Circuit ruled / that judgment was confirmed. September, twenty-five / the second judgment, too, Was upheld by an appeals panel after its review. Two awards, two proceedings / separate dates in the frame, Each ruling has a number and each case has a name. [Chorus] On the record / let the record play, Every case has a number, every ruling has a day. What was alleged? / What did they find? Put the name and the date on the very same line. On the record / let the record run, An appeal is a chapter till the process is done. Different courts, different rules in the pages we trace, Turn the record over / take it case by case. [Bridge] Federal election charges / prosecutors filed a case, Alleged attempts to overturn the twenty-twenty race. Trump denied wrongdoing / no trial verdict came, November, twenty-four / dismissal closed that stage. Justice Department policy on a sitting president Was the reason cited in the motion that was sent. Dismissal was the outcome / no jury ruled on guilt, That's how that chapter ended in the case the government built. [Verse 3] May thirtieth, twenty-four / Manhattan heard the call, Thirty-four guilty verdicts / the jury found on all. Falsifying business records / first degree was the charge, All thirty-four were felonies / that's the finding on the chart. Checks, invoices, ledger entries / evidence was shown, Reimbursements linked to Daniels and the payment made by Cohen. One hundred thirty thousand paid before Election Day, The books described repayments as legal fees along the way. Trump disputed guilt; his lawyers challenged how it ran, Said they'd seek reversal through the appeals they planned. January tenth, twenty-five / the sentence was pronounced, Unconditional discharge across those thirty-four counts. No prison, fine, probation from that sentence on that day, A judgment of conviction entered as the court explained. Verdict, then a sentence / two events along the track, Read them both together when you're playing the record back. [Final Chorus] On the record / let the record play, Every case has a number, every ruling has a day. What was alleged? / What did they find? Put the name and the date on the very same line. On the record / let the record run, An appeal is a chapter till the process is done. Different courts, different rules in the pages we trace, Turn the record over / take it case by case. [Outro] Allegation. Settlement. Civil finding. Conviction. Each a different entry. Each a different disposition.