What To Know About The Three Hush-Money Scandals In Trump’s Indictment

Topline

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from hush-money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign, which prosecutors allege made up a broader scheme to kill negative stories about Trump in the run up to the 2016 election.

Stormy Daniels attends the opening of the adult entertainment fair ‘Venus’ in Berlin, Germany, on … [+] October 11, 2018.

Key Facts

Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about an alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006, which prosecutors allege was done at Trump’s direction and in coordination with the Trump Organization.

Trump allegedly reimbursed Cohen through a series of monthly checks that were disguised as being for legal services as part of a retainer agreement, first through the Trump Organization and then through Trump’s personal funds.

Prior to Daniels’ payments, American Media (AMI) CEO David Pecker—whose company owned the National Enquirer—allegedly paid $150,000 to “catch and kill” a story from former Playboy model Karen McDougal alleging an affair with Trump in the mid-2000s, which was done as part of a broader agreement with Trump to silence any stories that could be damaging to his campaign.

Cohen had a conversation with Trump about reimbursing Pecker for the payment to McDougal—which prosecutors allege was captured on an audio recording—and subsequently created a shell company for those purposes, though prosecutors allege AMI canceled a deal to transfer the rights to McDougal’s story to the shell company.

A former Trump Tower doorman was also paid $30,000 by AMI in late 2015 after it learned he intended to share a story about Trump having a child out of wedlock with a former employee, as first reported by the New Yorker, which prosecutors allege was done as part of Pecker’s agreement with the Trump campaign—and AMI continued to suppress the story at Cohen’s direction even after learning it was false.

AMI falsely characterized that payment in its books, as well as the payment to McDougal, and both AMI and Cohen have admitted guilt in the hush money payments, with Cohen testifying his actions in the payments to McDougal and Daniels were “in coordination with, and at the direction of, a candidate for federal office.”

What To Watch For

Trump’s trial is expected to take place in early 2024, with prosecutors telling the court Tuesday they intended to ask for a January 2024 trial while Trump’s attorneys are pushing for a date in the spring. The charges against Trump are punishable by up to four years in prison if convicted—making up a potential total sentence of 136 years when all the charges are added together—though a law enforcement official cited by Yahoo News noted it’s unlikely Trump will face prison time as a first-time offender.

Big Number

$420,000. That’s how much Trump allegedly repaid Cohen for his $130,000 payment to Daniels, prosecutors allege, which was paid out in 12 monthly payments of $35,000 throughout 2017. In addition to the $130,000 that Cohen paid Daniels, Trump and the Trump Organization also reimbursed Cohen $50,000 for a separate charge he had made, and that $180,000 amount was then doubled to $360,000, because Trump assumed Cohen would have to pay 50% income tax on the payments. The Trump Organization’s CFO then allegedly added an additional $60,000 as a year-end bonus.

Chief Critic

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the crimes against him and denied having affairs with Daniels and McDougal or illegally covering them up, calling the case against him “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

What We Don’t Know

There’s still uncertainty over whether the Manhattan district attorney’s case against Trump will succeed in court, as the felony offenses that Trump’s been indicted for require prosecutors to prove not only that Trump falsified records—which is a misdemeanor—but that he did so to cover up another crime. The statement of facts in the indictment against Trump refers to campaign finance violations, but legal experts have cast doubt on whether federal campaign violations—which Cohen already pleaded guilty to in connection to the hush money payments—would apply in a state case. There may also be possible issues with the statute of limitations that could hurt prosecutors’ case, and with few details about the campaign crimes in the indictment it still remains to be seen how prosecutors plan to make that case in court.

Key Background

Trump was indicted on Thursday and arraigned Tuesday for the felony offenses against him in connection to the hush money payments, which mark the first time a former or sitting president has faced criminal charges. The indictment followed a years-long investigation by the Manhattan DA’s office into the Trump Organization’s financials, which turned back to the hush money payments after the company and its former CFO Allen Weisselberg were convicted on unrelated tax fraud charges. Cohen served a three-year prison sentence for his crimes stemming from the hush money payments, and after serving as his longtime “fixer” has now become outspoken against Trump, serving as a key witness for prosecutors in their investigation. The Manhattan charges against Trump come after federal prosecutors had previously declined to indict Trump over the hush money payments in 2018, while he was still in the White House. According to the New York Times, prosecutors at the time feared that doing so would violate a government directive against indicting sitting presidents, and after he left office, continued to have doubts about Cohen’s credibility as a witness.