Would Daniels' description of the event as a rape qualify?

Almost certainly not - but that's not even one of the theories they've advanced. Here are the four potential crimes they've identified as possibilities:

1) Federal campaign finance law.
2) State election law.
3) New York tax law.
4) The records law itself.

All have problems. The first is a claim that the payment was an illegal campaign contribution (which is one of the crimes Cohen pled guilty to) - but not only was Trump never charged, it's not clear whether the state business records law can be violated with federal crimes. State election law makes it a crime to use unlawful means to get someone elected, but arguably (again) doesn't bring in federal violations that have pre-empted state law. The state tax claim is tough, because what Trump did was overpay Cohen so he could book the Daniels payment as income and pay tax on it - it's not clear whether overstating your income and paying too much tax is a crime under NYS tax law. And the last is pretty suspect, that if you falsify business records to conceal that you've falsified business records you've gone from the ordinary misdemeanor to the felony.

Reasonable minds can differ. Vance supposedly didn't prosecute Trump in part because he was unconvinced that any of the above arguments would stick.

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