During the hush money case against Donald Trump, Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass highlighted key dates to the jury. The case revolves around allegations that Trump falsified business records to conceal hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her claim of an affair with Trump from surfacing before the 2016 presidential election.
In August 2015, Trump reportedly met with American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker at Trump Tower. Pecker allegedly agreed to monitor negative stories for Trump's campaign and inform Trump's then-fixer Michael Cohen.
Fast forward to September 2016, Trump discussed a $150,000 hush money payment with Cohen, which was believed to be for former Playboy model Karen McDougal. McDougal claimed she had an extramarital affair with Trump, which he denied.
On October 7, 2016, a controversial 'Access Hollywood' video from 2005 was released, showing Trump making lewd comments about his interactions with women.
Later in October 2016, Cohen reportedly paid Daniels $130,000 through her attorney via a shell company to secure her silence about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. This payment was separate from the one made to McDougal. Trump has consistently denied both the affairs and the payments.
Following Trump's election as the 45th President of the United States on November 8, 2016, in February 2017, Cohen allegedly met with Trump in the Oval Office to discuss reimbursement for the hush money payment. Prosecutors claim that Cohen devised a plan involving false invoices for legal services to cover the payment, his taxes, and a bonus, totaling $420,000. Prosecutors assert that there was no actual retainer agreement.
In January 2018, news broke about the hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels in 2016, further fueling the controversy surrounding the case.
