Former president Donald Trump allegedly paid  porn star Stormy Daniels 130,000 dollars in hush  money to keep her quiet over an alleged affair  between the two. Trump’s lawyer, Micheal Cohen,  paid Daniels with his personal money in October of  2016, just days before the 2016 election.  

 Trump reimbursed Cohen (420,000 dollars over 12  months) for his payment using his personal money  the following year, and the situation went public in  January 2018 from the Wall Street Journal.   In a statement to the New York Times, Cohen said  “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump  Campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms.  Clifford [Stormy Daniels], and neither reimbursed  me for the payment, either directly or indirectly …  The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was  not a campaign contribution or a campaign expendi ture by anyone.”  

 On March 6th of the same year, Daniels sued  Trump. The non-disclosure agreement prohibiting  her from discussing the alleged affair was never  signed by him, prompting Daniels to ask the court to  declare it null and void. Daniels’ attorney, Micheal  Avenatti, released emails revealing that Cohen used  his Trump Organization email when wiring the mon ey back in 2016. This completely negates Cohen’s  previous statement above.  

 Two months later on May 3rd, Trump tweeted that  “Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retain er, not from the campaign and having nothing to  do with the campaign, from which he entered into,  through reimbursement, a private contract between  two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement,  or NDA.”  

 Then, on August 21st, 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty  to eight counts of fraud, tax evasion, and campaign  finance violations all in regard to the hush money  payment, as well as telling the Manhattan federal  court that he was directed to make the payment by  the President. Cohen was sentenced to three years in  federal prison in December 2018. 

 In 2019, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. subpoe nas the Trump Organization in order to investigate  whether the company issued any false records to  cover up the hush money payment, which would  result in a state crime.  

 Despite Trump’s efforts to use his presidential sta tus as a way out of this investigation, the Supreme  Court ruled against him on July 9th, 2020.   Now with the obtained tax records, two of Trump’s  companies and Allen Weisselberg (Trump’s chief  financial advisor) were indicted on July 2nd, 2021  for fifteen counts by a Manhattan grand jury. The in dictments alleged that the guilty parties took part in  a scheme which funneled over 1.7 million dollars of  untaxed “indirect employee compensation,” though  both parties pleaded not guilty. 

 On August 7th, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to his  charges, and testified in November that Trump and  two of his kids engaged in a scheme to defraud tax  

authorities. A New York jury also found the two oth er companies guilty on all indictment counts. As for  Trump and his children, Trump’s attorney denies he  had any knowledge of the situation, and his children  deny any part in it too.  

 Fast forward to 2023, when the case begins to rap idly pick up momentum.  

 On January 30th of this year, Bragg had a grand  jury examine evidence over the hush money. Trump  was invited to testify before the grand jury on March  9th, though he denied the opportunity, suggesting  Trump himself could be soon facing an indictment  charge. Unsurprisingly, many of his employees and  supporters have been calling this whole process “in sane” or with the purpose of political harm, citing  Bragg’s alignment to the Democratic Party.   Though Trump did not testify, on March 13th and  15th Cohen did. Trump posted to his social media  network on March 18th, made allegations of fraud in  the 202 election, and asked his followers to “PRO TEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” 

 Does this sound familiar? It certainly should.  On March 30th, Trump was indicted by the grand  jury, the first president in U.S. history ever to be  involved in criminal activity. Finally on April 4th,  Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying  business records in a Manhattan courtroom.   It’s unlikely the trial will take place before next  year, but new findings may emerge any day…