On a Thursday, a verdict was reached, finding Donald Trump guilty of manipulating documents in an attempt to conceal a payout of $130,000. This payment was used to hush a pornography actress about an supposed sexual interaction between them prior to the 2016 elections.
Outlined below is a chronicle of noteworthy incidents leading to this judgement:
January 2018
The Wall Street Journal brings attention to an agreement made by Trump to pay adult film actress, Stormy Daniels (who also goes by Stephanie Clifford), $130,000 in October of 2016. The purpose of this payment was to prevent her from revealing details about a sexual encounter she claims occurred in 2006. Trump had married his current wife, Melania Trump, a year prior to this alleged incident. Despite these allegations, Trump has consistently denied having sexual relations with the actress.
February 2018
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, asserts that the payment to Daniels was made independently, with no instructions from Trump’s organisation or campaign. He also claims that he was never compensated for this sum by Trump. However, he later backtracks on these statements under oath, arguing that Trump did order the payment and that he was, indeed, reimbursed.
Meanwhile, The New Yorker shares that Trump had an extra-marital affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal between 2006-2007. The periodical also states that shortly after Trump was chosen as the Republican nominee for presidency in 2016, American Media Inc shelled out $150,000 to Ms McDougal for the exclusive rights to her account of this affair. This tale, however, remained unpublished by the affiliated news outlet, the National Enquirer.
April 2018
When journalists enquired about his knowledge of the payment made to Daniels, Trump retorts, “No.” When further questioned as to why this payment was made by Cohen, Trump diverts them by saying, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen.”
May 2018
Trump acknowledges in an ethics statement that he did reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 that was disbursed to Daniels.
July 2018
One of Trump’s personal lawyers at the time, Rudy Giuliani, reveals that two months prior to the 2016 election, Cohen had taped a conversation wherein a prospective payment to McDougal was discussed. Trump outright denies any misconduct and labels this recorded conversation as “perhaps illegal.”
August 2018
Cohen admits to criminal offences in a Manhattan federal court, including infringing campaign finance laws with secret payment arrangements to Daniels and McDougal. He claims that these payments were orchestrated by Trump, primarily to sway the election outcome.
Details of Cohen’s indictment explicitly suggest a federal candidate, named “Individual-1”, who was later established as Trump, managed these payments. Yet, federal prosecutors refrained from accusing Trump of any crime.
In December 2018, Trump brushed off the secret payments as a “straightforward private deal”. He defended his actions in a Reuters interview by stating that the Daniels payment didn’t constitute a campaign donation and that no laws were infringed.
Fast forward to July 2021, Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney at that time, alleges that Trump’s family real estate business in New York, the Trump Organization, along with its chief financial officer, committed tax fraud. Notably, Trump wasn’t accused, and there were no allusions to the secret payments in the indictment.
By December 2022, the Trump Organization had been convicted of tax fraud in a Manhattan state court trial.
January 2023 saw Vance’s successor, Alvin Bragg, as the Manhattan district attorney commence the presentation of evidence implicating Trump in the 2016 secret payments to a grand jury.
By March 2023, Bragg’s office announced that Trump had been indicted, although the specific allegations were kept classified.
In April 2023, the indictment was revealed; Trump faced charges of misrepresenting in the Trump Organization records that his 2017 reimbursements to Cohen for Daniels’ payment were lawful expenses. Prosecutors argued that these doctored records aimed to disguise the payment, which they deemed a ploy to manipulate the 2016 election – which Trump won against Democrat opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Trump protested his innocence against the allegations, asserting to his supporters in Florida that he was a target of “election interference”, but provided no proof.
The jury selection process for Trump’s trial began on 15th April 2024. By 19th April 2024, both legal teams had agreed on a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the case. The jury started deliberating on the case from 29th May 2024.
After a two-day period of contemplation, the jury has found Trump guilty on every charge, as reported by Reuters.