Same thing now. New York City courts have no credibility. The crime was never even defined.
Because Fox never told you.
Timeline of Trump's hush money case
AUGUST 2015
Former President Donald Trump meets with then-American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker at Trump Tower, prosecutors say, where Pecker agrees to be the “eyes and ears” for Trump’s campaign and flag any negative stories to Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen.
SEPTEMBER 2016
Donald Trump discusses a $150,000 hush money payment understood to be for former Playboy model Karen McDougal with Michael Cohen who secretly records the conversation. McDougal has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump beginning in 2006, which he has denied. “So what do we got to pay for this? One fifty,” Trump can be heard saying on tape.
OCTOBER 7, 2016
The Washington Post releases an "Access Hollywood" video from 2005 in which Donald Trump uses vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women with then show host Billy Bush. Fallout from the "Access Hollywood" tape prompts Trump’s inner circle to do damage control of any more potentially bad press like an alleged affair story from adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to prosecutors.
OCTOBER 27, 2016
According to prosecutors, Michael Cohen pays Stormy Daniels $130,000 to her attorney through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Donald Trump in 2006. This $130,000 sum is separate from the $150,000 paid to Karen McDougal. Trump has publicly denied having any affairs and has denied making the payments. Prosecutors say Daniels first brought her story to AMI, whose executives brought the story to Cohen on Trump’s behalf. According to prosecutors, Trump directed Cohen to delay making the payment as long as possible, telling him if they delayed paying until after the election they could avoid paying it at all.
NOVEMBER 8, 2016
Donald Trump secures the election to become the 45th president of the United States.
FEBRUARY 2017
Prosecutors say Michael Cohen meets with Donald Trump in the Oval Office to confirm how he would be reimbursed for the hush money payment Cohen fronted for Trump to Stormy Daniels. A month earlier Cohen mapped out the repayment plan with then-Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who memorialized the calculations in handwritten notes on Cohen’s bank statement, according to court documents. Under the plan, Cohen would send a series of false invoices requesting payment for legal services he performed pursuant to a retainer agreement and receive monthly checks for $35,000 for a total of $420,000 to cover the payment to Daniels, his taxes and a bonus, prosecutors alleged. Prosecutors also allege there was never a retainer agreement.
JANUARY 2018
The Wall Street Journal breaks news about the hush money payment Michael Cohen made to Stormy Daniels in 2016.
APRIL 2018
On April 5, 2018, Trump replies “no,” when asked by a reporter on Air Force One if he had knowledge of the hush money payment from Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels. The reporter continued, “Then why, why Michael Cohen make this, if there was no truth to her allegations?” Trump responds, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney and you’ll have to ask Michael.” Department of Justice officials later confirm they’re investigating Cohen days after the FBI raided his home and office. Trump encourages his former fixer not to flip on him in social media posts as the investigation into Cohen heats up.
MAY 2018
Trump offers an explanation for the transactions around the hush money scheme. Prosecutors are expected to submit the tweets as evidence at trial, though Trump has fought to keep his jury from seeing these and other posts he wrote when he was president.
...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......
— Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) May 3, 2018
From Donald Trump/X
AUGUST 21, 2018
Michael Cohen pleads guilty in Manhattan federal court to two counts of making unlawful campaign contributions in violation of federal campaign finance laws among other crimes. Cohen implicates Donald Trump directly in the scheme he admits that he orchestrated to pay Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf. He also says the scheme was “for the principal purpose of influencing the election." Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, which he served behind bars, and under house arrest. Cohen’s plea prompts the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to launch an investigation surrounding the hush money payments.
JULY 2019
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan end their inquiry as to Trump Organization officials’ role in the hush money scheme, declining to charge any other players aside from Michael Cohen. A judge unseals FBI records connected to the inquiry that reveal Trump insiders like Hope Hicks were on a call with Cohen and Donald Trump in October 2016 after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape apparently related to Stormy Daniels, according to the documents.
AUGUST 2019
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office subpoenas the Trump Organization and AMI in connection to its hush money investigation.
JANUARY 1, 2022
Then-Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. declines to seek a grand jury vote on any charges against Donald Trump before leaving office. Newly elected District Attorney Alvin Bragg takes office after running on a platform pledging to focus on the Trump investigations. A month later two Manhattan prosecutors running the investigation into the former president resign after Bragg declines to allow them to proceed to seek charges against Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announces Matthew Colangelo — who previously worked on the state attorney general’s civil fraud investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances — will join the DA’s office to cover the office’s “most sensitive and high-profile white-collar investigations” including the ongoing investigations into Trump and his finances.
JANUARY 23, 2023
Alvin Bragg convenes a grand jury to hear the hush money case against Donald Trump. Over the next three months key players in the scheme such as AMI CEO David Pecker, Michael Cohen, former Trump White House advisers Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway testify before the grand jury.
MARCH 30, 2023
A Manhattan grand jury indicts Donald Trump, making him the first current or former US president to be charged criminally in the nation’s history. The indictment remains sealed until Trump’s arraignment.
Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on April 4, 2023, in New York City. Seth Wenig/Pool/Getty Images
APRIL 4, 2023
Donald Trump surrenders to a New York State criminal court in Manhattan and enters a plea of not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records at a historic arraignment hearing.
MARCH 15, 2024
Judge Juan Merchan agrees to delay Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial set to begin March 25 after federal prosecutors turn over a more than 100,000 records to the parties in response to a Trump subpoena.
MARCH 25, 2024
Judge Merchan rules the trial will now begin April 15 with jury selection. Merchan also dismisses Donald Trump’s claims accusing the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office of prosecutorial misconduct related to the last-minute tranche of documents turned over by federal prosecutors.
Timeline: CNN
