Donald Trump
The former president has been accused of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included a hush-money payment made to an adult film star to hide an affair. Trump has denied the affair.
Prosecutors allege that Trump allegedly disguised the transaction as a legal payment and falsified business records numerous times to “promote his candidacy.”
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.
Stormy Daniels
Adult-film star Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, received a $130,000 payment just days before the 2016 presidential election.
She shared in a documentary released last month that she accepted the payment to keep her one-night stand with Trump in 2006 from becoming public to protect her husband and daughter.
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Trump’s attorneys subsequently used the release of the documentary to try to bar Daniels from testifying and argued that it should be grounds to dismiss the indictment or delay the trial — both unsuccessful challenges, though the judge did delay the trial on separate grounds.
Michael Cohen
The $130,000 payment to Daniels was made by Cohen, then Trump’s personal attorney, who landed in federal prison over that transaction for breaking campaign finance laws. Cohen, now a critical witness, has said that Trump directed him to make the payment to Daniels.
Trump and his legal team attempted to bar Cohen from testifying, arguing that he’s committed perjury more than once in other cases, but the request was denied last month.
David Pecker
As the then-chairman of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Inquirer, David Pecker was involved in numerous “catch and kill” schemes he orchestrated on behalf of Trump and allegedly helped broker the deal with Daniels.
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According to court documents, an agent for Daniels contacted AMI in October 2016 and said that she was willing to go public with her allegations of an affair with Trump. Pecker then allegedly contacted Cohen, who subsequently negotiated the deal, per court filings from Cohen’s plea agreement.
In a separate incident, AMI agreed to pay model and actress Karen McDougal $150,000 months before the 2016 election for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump. While this payment is not part of the charges against Trump, prosecutors are expected to use it to establish a pattern of such payments.
Pecker has been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony and AMI signed a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors.
