Tracing the Trail of Hush-Money Deals That Led to Trump's Prosecution – The New York Times
Advertisement
Supported by
Before Stormy Daniels, Donald J. Trump and his allies paid to keep other stories buried as he ran for the presidency.
Donald J. Trump and two confidants hatched a plan in August 2015 to boost his upstart presidential campaign, prosecutors say. They carried it out, and Mr. Trump won the election.
Nearly nine years later, Mr. Trump will face the same men, Michael Cohen and David Pecker. But unlike at that long-ago meeting, he won’t be seated at the desk in his 26th-floor Trump Tower office: He will be at the defendant’s table in a Lower Manhattan courtroom.
With his criminal trial set to begin in earnest on Monday, Mr. Trump’s former allies are each expected to take a turn on the witness stand, giving testimony that could help make him the first president convicted of a felony.
Mr. Trump is charged in a 34-count indictment with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush-money payment to a former porn star in order to influence the 2016 election. Mr. Cohen paid the woman, Stormy Daniels, less than two weeks before the election to keep silent about her claim that she had sex with Mr. Trump a decade before.
Lawyers defending Mr. Trump, who denies he had sex with her, will likely argue that his employees were responsible for the paper trail that falsely described the reimbursement of the hush money as legal fees for Mr. Cohen.
The indictment unveiled on Tuesday centers on a hush-money deal with a porn star, but a related document alleges a broader scheme to protect Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement