The investigation into Trump’s alleged hush payments to Stormy Daniels

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Former President Trump speaks in Davenport, Iowa, on March 13. Photo: Miriam Alarcon Avila/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump could become the first sitting or former president in US history to face criminal charges amid new momentum in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Driving news: Trump’s comments at Truth Social on Saturday — that he believed he would be arrested on Tuesday — were the latest in a saga that has dogged him since Daniels publicly announced the two were having an affair. Trump denied the claim but changed his story about the payment as events played out.

How does it start?

2006: Daniels met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev., she said in a 2018 interview with “60 Minutes.” The two had sex in his hotel suite after inviting him to dinner, he said.

Michael Cohen negotiated for silence

2016: Actress Karen McDougal’s attorney Keith M. Davidson approached the National Inquirer about selling her story of an affair she had with Trump in 2006 and 2007, according to documents later filed by the Federal Election Commission.

The National Enquirer secured the rights to his story for $150,000 but never published it — a tactic used to debunk his claims to prevent its influence on the election, which his parent company American Media admitted Inc. (AMI) in a 2018 non-prosecution agreement. Cohen — Trump’s former lawyer — reached out to David Pecker, AMI’s chairman and CEO, to discuss the possible purchase of the non-disclosure portion of McDougal’s agreement with AMI for $125,000. Davidson, who now also represents Daniels, told the National Enquirer that he was willing to share details about his alleged affair on the record. The Enquirer notifies Cohen, who agrees to pay Daniels $130,000 in exchange for the rights to his story and a nondisclosure agreement. Cohen asked for reimbursement

January 2017: As Trump prepares to take office, Cohen requests reimbursement from the Trump Organization for paying Daniels — which company executives are giving double, per federal prosecutor handling Cohen’s case.

January 2018: The Wall Street Journal publishes details of the payment to Daniels — the first public account of the deal. Cohen did not address the payment itself but told the Journal in a statement that Trump “vehemently denies” allegations of an affair.

February 2018: Cohen released a statement saying he made the payment to Daniels but was not paid for it and that the Trump campaign was out of the loop. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and not a campaign contribution or campaign expenditure by anyone,” he said.

Daniels sued Trump

March 2018: Daniels sued Trump in federal court to void the nondisclosure agreement, arguing Trump never signed it.

In the lawsuit, which includes a copy of the deal, she says Cohen paid her $130,000 for her silence and accuses her of using “intimidation and coercive tactics” to publicly deny the incident after the Journal report. A set of emails released by Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti show that Cohen used his Trump Organization email account to facilitate wire transfers for the deal.

April 2018: Trump makes his first public comments, saying he was unaware of the payment to Daniels.

May 2018: Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani says that Trump did in fact pay Cohen and knew about the “general arrangement.”

Trump tried to do damage control the next day, tweeting that Cohen received a “monthly retainer, not from the campaign and nothing to do with the campaign, for which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between the two parties.” pleaded guilty to federal charges

August 2018: Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of tax evasion, fraud and campaign finance violations in connection with his payments to Daniels and McDougal, which the Justice Department called an attempt to “influence the 2016 presidential election.”

During his guilty plea, Cohen told federal court that he was ordered to violate campaign law at the direction of an unnamed candidate. Both candidates ordered him to pay $130,000 in hush money, which the candidate later paid. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

July 2019: The federal investigation into the payments ends, with Trump’s team claiming victory over what he continues to call an extortion scheme.

The Manhattan DA has subpoenaed the Trump Organization

August 2019: The Manhattan district attorney’s office subpoenaed the Trump Organization for records related to the payments.

September 2019: The district attorney’s office issued another subpoena for Trump’s 2011 tax returns. Trump sued to block the subpoena and appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court, which in February 2021 found that Trump is not protected from subpoena.

Over the next several years, numerous lawsuits were brought against the Trump Organization and its top executives for tax-related fraud.

March 2023: Trump is invited to testify before a New York grand jury investigating hush money payments. Trump’s representatives call the “threat” of an indictment “crazy.”

Deeper: Impending Trump charges threaten to inject chaos into 2024 campaign

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