Former President Donald Trump may not be charged with conspiracy in his New York criminal case, but prosecutors on Tuesday underlined how key that element is in proving that the former president is guilty of the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

“There’s a misperception about the law and what this case is about,” Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told Presiding Justice Juan Merchan as attorneys argued whether certain exhibits should be admitted in front of the jury. “The entire case is predicated on the idea there was a conspiracy to influence the election in 2016.”