[Former President Donald Trump was indicted today by a New York
Grand Jury for criminal violations that may have occurred when
Trump’s team paid two women to stay silent about alleged affairs
with candidate Trump in 2016. ]
[[link removed]]

DETAILED CHRONOLOGY IN TRUMP-COHEN HUSH MONEY INVESTIGATION  
[[link removed]]


 

Gretchen Knaut, Norman L. Eisen, McKenzie Carrier, Vicka Heidt, Greg
Phea and Madison Gee
March 29, 2023
Just Security
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Former President Donald Trump was indicted today by a New York
Grand Jury for criminal violations that may have occurred when
Trump’s team paid two women to stay silent about alleged affairs
with candidate Trump in 2016. _

Court documents released Thursday includes details about Donald Trump
directing then-lawyer Michael Cohen to help arrange payments to Stormy
Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) and another woman., AP photo by NPR

 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is nearing what could be the
first criminal indictment of a former U.S. president in history. In
what may be the initial shoe to drop in a possible ongoing larger
financial investigation, Bragg has zeroed in on a set of activities
that occurred in the course of the 2016 presidential campaign. The DA
is reportedly assessing the criminal violations that may have occurred
when Trump’s team paid two women to stay silent about alleged
affairs with the then-presidential candidate. We have constructed a
chronology of events involving these alleged “hush money
payments.”

We rely upon court filings, contemporaneous media reports, and
extracts from a Pulitzer Prize-winning team’s account of the
events, _The Fixers_. Key individuals include Trump’s former lawyer
and personal “fixer,” Michael Cohen; the former Chairman and CEO
of American Media Inc., David Pecker; the two women paid to remain
silent, Stephanie Clifford (aka “Stormy Daniels”) and Karen
McDougal. Many of the individuals involved have reportedly
[[link removed]] appeared
before Bragg’s grand jury this year, as noted in the latter portion
of the chronology. Their involvement in the ongoing proceedings
suggests that an eventual Trump indictment may track the events
described herein, lending this work further significance.

We will continue monitoring the Manhattan investigation as it unfolds
and update this chronology accordingly.

***

Beginning around 2004: Former American Media Inc. (“AMI”)
employees claim that the company and its publications routinely turned
away stories and tips that could paint Donald Trump in a bad light.
AMI CEO David Pecker had a strong friendship with Trump throughout
this period, attending Trump’s wedding to Melania in 2005 (_AP_
[[link removed]]_; __The
Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]; _The
New Yorker_
[[link removed]];
see also Michael Cohen congressional testimony
[[link removed]],
“these catch and kill scenarios existed between David Pecker and Mr.
Trump long before I started working for him in 2007”)_._

2005: While in conversation with Billy Bush, an anchor at the time
for _Access Hollywood_, Trump identified a “young woman through a
bus window” and began making lewd, sexually aggressive remarks. Bush
recorded Trump’s comments on a hot mic: “I’m automatically
attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s
like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a
star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab ’em by the
pussy” (_NBC News_
[[link removed]]).

June 2006: Karen McDougal met Trump while _The Celebrity
Apprentice_ was being filmed at the Playboy mansion. McDougal had
been hired to work as an extra at a pool party scene. At the end of
the night, Trump reportedly asked McDougal for her phone number. They
talked “right away on the phone… for about a week before
[Trump’s] next visit to [Los Angeles]” (_CNN_
[[link removed]]; _The
New Yorker_
[[link removed]]).

June 12, 2006: According to McDougal, she and Trump went on their
first “date” at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. McDougal claims that
Trump’s bodyguard brought her to a bungalow in the back of the
hotel, where she and Trump were “intimate.” Trump reportedly tried
to pay McDougal afterward. By McDougal’s account, she and Trump then
began an extended affair, meeting up in Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, and
even his New York apartment in Trump Tower (_NPR_
[[link removed]]; _POLITICO_
[[link removed]]).

July 2006: Stephanie Clifford (aka “Stormy Daniels”) met Trump at
a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Clifford claims that the
two had sex in Trump’s hotel room. At dinner, Trump reportedly told
Clifford that he could “make [her appearing on _The Apprentice_]
happen” (_CBS_
[[link removed]];_ The
Fixers_, p. 72).

* McDougal claims that she also attended the Lake Tahoe golf
tournament and had sex with Trump (_The New Yorker_
[[link removed]]).

2007: Michael Cohen entered into employment as “an attorney and
employee of a Manhattan-based real estate company,” the Trump
Organization, under the titles “Executive Vice President” and
“Special Counsel” to Trump (Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 1).

January 2007: According to McDougal, she attended a launch party for
Trump Vodka in Los Angeles and sat at a table with “Kim Kardashian,
Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Trump, Jr.’s wife, Vanessa, who was
pregnant.” At another point (no date specified in source), McDougal
claims she worked as a costumed Playboy bunny at a party hosted by
Trump and took pictures together with him and his family (_The New
Yorker_
[[link removed]]).

April 2007: After nine months, McDougal reportedly ended her
relationship with Trump. A friend of McDougal’s later claimed that
“the breakup was prompted in part by McDougal’s feelings of
guilt” (_The New Yorker_
[[link removed]]).

Throughout 2007: According to a lawsuit Clifford filed against Trump
in March 2018, their “intimate relationship” lasted “well into
the year 2007” and “‘included, among other things, at least one
‘meeting’ with Mr. Trump’ at the Beverly Hills Hotel” (_The
Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

July 2007: Trump asked Clifford to meet with him “privately at the
Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.” Clifford later claimed that
“they did not have sex, but he wanted to” (_PBS_
[[link removed]]).

August 2007: Trump reportedly called Clifford to tell her that he
“[was not] able to get her a spot” on _The Apprentice_. According
to Clifford, they did not meet again (_PBS_
[[link removed]]).

2009 or 2010: Clifford and Trump had their last conversation, by
Clifford’s account. According to Clifford, Trump called her after
she appeared on television “and was like, ‘Hey, I just saw you on
CNN’ or Fox or something… ‘You looked great. I love how you give
it to ‘em’” (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

May 2011: Clifford “agreed to tell her story to a sister publication
of _In Touch_ magazine [_Life & Style_] for $15,000.” At the
magazine’s request, she and other witnesses reportedly took and
passed polygraph exams about her alleged affair with Trump. Two
employees of the magazine at the time later claimed that “the story
never ran because after the magazine called Mr. Trump seeking comment,
his attorney Michael Cohen threatened to sue.” Clifford has also
claimed that she was never paid (_60 Minutes_
[[link removed]]; _The
Fixers_, p. 121).

May 2011: Weeks after the _In Touch_ story was squashed, Clifford
alleges she “was threatened by a man who approached her in Las
Vegas.” Clifford claims that the man came up to her and said,
“Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,” before looking at her
daughter and saying, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a
shame if something happened to her mom” (_60 Minutes; CBS_
[[link removed]]).

October 2011: _TheDirty.com_, a gossip site, published rumors about
an extramarital affair between Clifford and Trump in July 2006 (Cohen
Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
39).

October 11, 2011: Clifford’s attorney, Keith Davidson, “sent a
cease and desist letter to _TheDirty.com_” and demanded that the
site remove the article about Trump and Clifford (Cohen Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
39).

October 12, 2011: Cohen denied the rumors about Trump and Clifford’s
affair. He stated to _E! News_ that, “[t]he totally untrue and
ridiculous story… emanated from a sleazy and disgusting website…
The Trump Organization and Donald J. Trump will be bringing a
lawsuit… Trump and the Trump Organization would like to thank and
commend Stormy Daniels and her attorneys for their honest and swift
actions” (Cohen Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
39).

March 18, 2015: Trump announced plans to form a presidential
exploratory committee in advance of the 2016 election (_POLITICO_
[[link removed]]).

June 16, 2015: Trump announced his bid for the presidency at his New
York tower. At this time, Cohen “continued to work at the Company
[the Trump Organization] and did not have a formal title with the
campaign.” However, Cohen still “had a campaign email address and,
at various times, advised the campaign, including on matters of
interest to the press, and made televised and media appearances on
behalf of the campaign” (_The Guardian_
[[link removed]]; Cohen
Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
pp. 11-12).

In or around August 2015: In a meeting reportedly arranged by Cohen,
Pecker met with Cohen and “at least one other member of the
campaign” (identified as “Individual-1, namely, Trump himself).
Pecker offered to “help deal with negative stories” about
Trump’s relationships with women by “among other things, assisting
the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased
and their publication avoided.” During the meeting, Pecker also
committed to “keep Cohen apprised of any such negative stories ”
(AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 4; Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 12; Cohen Sentencing Memo, p. 12
[[link removed]]; _The
Fixers_, pp. ix-xi, 317; _The Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]; _CNN_
[[link removed]]).

February 1, 2016: Trump finished second in the Iowa caucuses, losing
the first Republican state nominating contest to Senator Ted Cruz
(R-TX) (_Reuters_
[[link removed]]).

March 1, 2016: Trump won seven of the eleven “Super Tuesday”
states in the Republican primary (_Reuters_
[[link removed]]).

April 2016: Clifford and her agent, Gina Rodriguez, attempted to sell
Clifford’s story to media outlets for the second time. On April 7,
after receiving rejections from other publications, Rodriguez reached
out to her friend Dylan Howard, who was then AMI’s chief content
officer. Howard reportedly rejected the story for the same reason the
others had: Clifford had previously publicly denied her involvement
with Trump, calling affair rumors “bullshit” after the story
surfaced in 2011 (_The Fixers_, pp. 123, 163).

May 7, 2016: Carrie Stevens (a fellow former Playboy model and former
friend of McDougal) tweeted, “I usually don’t get involved in
politics but why Bill Clinton can’t [sic] get an extramarital BJ but
@RealDonaldTrump can?” Soon after, Stevens sent another tweet with
the hashtag “donaldlovesplaymates” and McDougal’s Twitter
handle. At that point, McDougal reportedly realized that the story of
her affair would likely become public as Trump’s presidential
campaign continued and decided to meet with an attorney. She met with
Keith Davidson, who was also (separately) representing Clifford at the
time, in the hopes of asserting “control of the narrative.”
According to their retainer agreement, Davidson was contracted to
assist McDougal with selling her story about her “interactions with
Donald Trump” and any “confidentiality agreements” arising out
of it (_The Fixers_, pp. 162–163; Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
pp. 12-13).

June 15, 2016: Davidson contacted Howard and attempted to sell
McDougal’s story to _The National Enquirer, _an AMI publication.
In accordance with their August 2015 agreement, Pecker and Howard
called Cohen and alerted him to the story’s existence. Howard then
“began negotiating for the purchase of the story” at “Cohen’s
urging and subject to Cohen’s promise that AMI would be
reimbursed” (AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 4; Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
pp. 12-13; _The Fixers_, p. 164).

June 20, 2016: Howard reportedly arranged a meeting in Los Angeles
with McDougal, Davidson, and two of McDougal’s contacts, John
Crawford and Jay Grdina. Howard interviewed McDougal about the alleged
affair with Trump, but he “sensed her reluctance to come forward.”
At one point, McDougal reportedly said, “I don’t want to be the
next Monica Lewinsky.” McDougal had brought notes with dates and
phone numbers related to the alleged affair, but Howard reportedly
claimed that the story needed additional documentation to be worth
more than $15,000. McDougal then “suggested that she might have some
corroborating materials in a storage locker. She promised to look for
them” (AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 4; _The Fixers_, p. 164).

June 20, 2016: Following the interview, Howard reportedly told
Davidson he would update him on whether AMI intended to buy
McDougal’s story by the end of the day. Davidson agreed to refrain
from “shopping McDougal’s information to another outlet” in the
meantime. After he left Davidson’s office, Howard joined “a
three-way call with Pecker and Cohen.” The group reportedly agreed
that AMI would not offer McDougal a deal yet (_The Fixers_, pp.
164–165).

Sometime between June 20 and June 27, 2016: Cohen reportedly informed
Trump of McDougal’s meeting with Howard (_The Fixers_, p. 165).

June 27, 2016: Trump reportedly called Pecker to ask whether he could
bury McDougal’s story (_The Fixers_, p. 166).

July 7, 2016: The lead investigative producer for _ABC News_, Rhonda
Schwartz, reportedly met with McDougal, Davidson, and Grdina at the
Beverly Wilshire Hotel for an all-day interview (_The Fixers_, p.
166).

Over several weeks following July 7, 2016: McDougal and Schwartz
reportedly continued to meet. During this time, “ABC News entered
into a confidentiality agreement with Davidson that barred the outlet
from publicizing any of the information McDougal provided, unless or
until she agreed to do the interview” (_The Fixers_, p. 166).

Sometime after July 7, 2016: Davidson, likely hoping to secure a
better deal for McDougal than the unpaid arrangement with _ABC News_,
reportedly alerted Howard to a (phony) _ABC News_ plan to air an
interview with McDougal on primetime television. Sources claim that
Howard passed the information along to Pecker, who alerted Cohen, who
informed Trump (_The Fixers_, pp. 167–168).

July 19, 2016: Trump won the official GOP presidential nomination with
1,237 delegates (_NBC News_
[[link removed]]).

July 29, 2016: Howard reportedly extended a loose offer to Davidson
for McDougal’s story (_The Fixers_, p. 168).

First week in August 2016: Davidson and AMI reportedly negotiated an
agreement to purchase McDougal’s story (_The Fixers_, p. 168).

On or around August 5, 2016: AMI acquired the “limited life
rights” to the story of McDougal’s alleged affair with Trump for
$150,000. AMI also committed to feature McDougal on “two magazine
covers and publish over one hundred magazine articles authored by her.
Despite the cover and article features to the agreement, its principal
purpose, as understood by those involved, including [Cohen], was to
suppress [McDougal’s] story so as to prevent it from influencing the
election” (Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 13; AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 4; _The Fixers_, pp. 168, 192).

On or around August 10, 2016: AMI sent $150,000 to Davidson “in
cooperation, consultation, and concert with, and at the request and
suggestion of one or more members or agents of a candidate’s 2016
presidential campaign, to ensure that a woman did not publicize
damaging allegations about that candidate before the 2016 presidential
election and thereby influence that election” (AMI Non-Prosecution
Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 4).

August – October 2016: Clifford reportedly participated in talks
with multiple outlets including _Good Morning
America_ and _Slate _for her account of the alleged Trump affair.
Jacob Weisberg, editor of _Slate_, claimed to have spoken with
Clifford several times during this period. Clifford reportedly told
Weisberg that, using lawyers as intermediaries, “Trump had
negotiated to buy her silence.” Weisberg claimed that Clifford also
sent him photos of “an unfinished draft contract in which pseudonyms
had been used.” However, Clifford then reportedly “cut Weisberg
off,” and he did not pursue the story ​​(_The Fixers_, p.
238; _Slate_
[[link removed]]; _The
New York Times_
[[link removed]]; Cohen
Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 40).

August 2016 – September 2016: Pecker agreed to assign the rights to
the non-disclosure portion of AMI’s agreement with McDougal to Cohen
in exchange for a $125,000 payment. During this period, Cohen also
“incorporated a shell entity called ‘Resolution Consultants LLC’
for use in the transaction.” (Cohen Criminal information
[[link removed]],
pp. 13-14; AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]]).

September 30, 2016: Following his discussions with Cohen, Pecker
signed the assignment agreement and delivered it to Cohen “along
with an invoice from a shell corporation incorporated by the
consultant [separate from Cohen’s shell entity] for the payment of
$125,000, which stated the payment was for an ‘agreed upon ‘flat
fee’ for advisory services’” (AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 5; Cohen Criminal information
[[link removed]],
pp. 13-14).

September 30, 2016: Resolution Consultants LLC was created in
Delaware. Cohen reportedly used his own name for the corporate
formation documents (_The Fixers_, p. 237).

Early October 2016: Before Cohen had paid the previously invoiced
$125,000, Pecker “contacted [Cohen] and told him, in substance, that
the deal was off and that [Cohen] should tear up the assignment
agreement. [Cohen] did not tear up the agreement, which was later
found during a judicially authorized search of his office” (Cohen
Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
pp. 13-14; _see also_ AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]],
p. 5).

October 7, 2016: The 2005 _Access Hollywood _tape of Trump saying
“Grab ’em by the pussy” became public (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

October 8, 2016*: The very next day, Rodriguez, Davidson, and Howard
reportedly began discussions about AMI purchasing Clifford’s story.
They appear to have believed it was “more marketable [then] than it
had been when Rodriguez first pitched Howard in April, before
the _Access Hollywood_ tape placed Trump’s treatment of women in
the national spotlight” (_The Fixers_, p. 174).

*_The timeline of events on October 8 is supplied primarily from two
sources: _The Fixers_ and Cohen’s search warrant. Each source
provides information about the conversations that occurred between
Trump, Cohen, Hicks, Pecker, Howard, Davidson, and Rodriguez. However,
where _The Fixers_ provides precise details about the contents of
the conversations, it fails to include the precise times of those
conversations. Cohen’s search warrant, conversely, provides precise
details about the times of calls, but not their contents. In order not
to mangle the timeline, we present the information below as it appears
in the original sources. Where we were able to confirm facts in both
sources, we have indicated so with an additional in-text citation._

October 8, 2016, _Sourced from _The Fixers _(facts shown in the
order they appeared)_

* Afternoon: Davidson texted Howard that “‘Trump is fucked.’”
Howard responded, “‘Wave the white flag. It’s over people!’”
(_The Fixers_, p. 174).
* A few hours later in the afternoon: Davidson emailed Rodriguez,
asking if she had “‘heard from [Clifford] lately?’” (_The
Fixers_, p. 174).
* Around 30 minutes later: Howard texted Rodriguez to follow up on
her client, asking her “to send him a pitch so he could elevate it
to his boss, [Pecker].” He added that Pecker would “likely pay.”
Rodriguez then emailed Howard the pitch, which included “a brief
description of her client’s [Clifford’s] claims” (_The Fixers_,
p. 174).
* After 7:20 pm ET: “Cohen had a conference call with Hicks and
Trump, followed by a call with Hicks alone. Hicks had heard from
another campaign aide” that there was another tape, “this one of
Trump cavorting with prostitutes in Moscow during a trip there for the
Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Hicks had been told that _TMZ_ might
have access to the tape, and she knew that Cohen was very close to
Harvey Levin, the gossip outlet’s founder. Hicks asked Cohen to let
her know if he heard anything from Levin. She also impressed on him
… that the campaign’s messaging was that Trump’s remarks on
the _Access Hollywood_ were merely ‘locker room talk’” (_The
Fixers_, p. 175; _see also_ Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 41).
* After Cohen’s call with Hicks: “Cohen, Pecker, and Howard
exchanged a series of calls after Cohen got off the phone with Hicks.
Cohen lobbied Pecker to buy Daniels’s [Clifford’s] story.”
During these calls, Cohen sought to convince Pecker to purchase and
not publish the story, as he had done with McDougal’s account in a
practice known as “catch-and-kill” (_The Fixers_, p. 175).
* Less than an hour after Rodriguez sent her pitch of Clifford’s
story to Howard: Howard texted Rodriguez: “‘How much for
[Clifford]?’” She replied “‘250k,’” and they negotiated it
down to “‘120.’” Howard then told Rodriguez that “he’d be
back in touch by the following morning” (_The Fixers_, pp.
175–176).
* “Minutes after signing off with Rodriguez”: Howard texted
Pecker: “Woman wants 120k” and Pecker replied “‘We can’t pay
120k.’” Howard then said “‘Ok. They’d need to handle.
Perhaps I call Michael and advise him and he can take it from there,
and handle.’” Pecker responded, “‘Yes good idea’” (_The
Fixers_, p. 176).
* After AMI decided not to purchase Clifford’s story: Howard and
Davidson communicated. Howard agreed “to contact Cohen (again) to
vouch for Davidson.” This was because Davidson was anxious about
negotiating with Cohen after a previously tense interaction in
September. Howard and Cohen communicated again. Howard told Cohen,
“‘Be nice’” to Davidson. Howard then texted Pecker “to let
him know that Cohen had agreed to handle the story and leave American
Media out of it.” He continued: “‘Spoke to MC. All sorted. Now
removed. No fingerprints. I’ll recap with you face to face.’”
Pecker replied “‘Great work Thx’” (_The Fixers_, p. 177).
* 9:13 pm GMT: Howard texted Cohen “‘Keith will do it. Let’s
reconvene tomorrow’” (_The Fixers_, p. 177; _see also_ Cohen
Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* “Past 2 [am]” GMT: Cohen texted Howard, “Thank you.” A few
minutes later he sent another text to Howard with “the name of his
shell company, Resolution Consultants” (_The Fixers_, p. 177).

October 8, 2016, _Sourced from Cohen Warrant_

* 7:20 pm: “At approximately 7:20 p.m., Cohen received a call from
[Hope] Hicks. Sixteen seconds into the call, Trump joined the call,
and the call continued for over four minutes.” Based on toll
records, “this was the first call Cohen had received or made to
Hicks in at least multiple weeks” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 41; _see also_ _The Fixers_, p. 175).

* About 7:34 pm: “Approximately ten minutes after the call ended,
Hicks and Cohen spoke again for about two minutes” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42; _see also_ _The Fixers_, p. 175).

* At some point during the 7:20 pm and 7:34 pm calls (no distinction
is made between them in _The Fixers_), Hicks and Cohen communicated
about a rumor that “Hicks had heard from another campaign aid”
that there was another tape, “this one of Trump cavorting with
prostitutes in Moscow during a trip there for the Miss Universe
pageant in 2013. Hicks had been told that _TMZ_ might have access to
the tape, and she knew that Cohen was very close to Harvey Levin, the
outlet’s founder. Hicks asked Cohen to let her know if he heard
anything from Levin. She also impressed on him… that the
campaign’s messaging was that Trump’s remarks on the _Access
Hollywood_ tape were merely ‘locker room talk’” (_The Fixers_,
p. 175).)

* At 7:39 pm (immediately after the Hicks-Cohen call ends): Cohen
called Pecker for 30 seconds (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* Approximately 4 minutes later (about 7:43 pm): Cohen called Pecker
again, and they spoke “for more than a minute” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* 3 minutes after the Cohen-Pecker call ends (about 7:47 pm): Howard
called Cohen. They spoke “for approximately a minute” (Cohen
Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
42).
* 7:56 pm: Cohen called Hicks for 2 minutes (Cohen Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
42).
* 7:58 pm: Pecker called Cohen for 2 minutes (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* 8:03 pm: Cohen called Trump for 8 minutes (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* 8:39 pm: Howard called Cohen for 4 minutes (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* 8:57 pm: Howard called Cohen for 6 minutes (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42).
* 9:13 pm: Howard texted Cohen “‘Keith will do it. Let’s
reconvene tomorrow’” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 42; _see also_ _The Fixers_, p. 177).

October 9, 2016:

* At some point this day: Rodriguez reportedly told “Howard that
she had another offer for [Clifford’s] story, this one for $200,000,
a lie meant to prod the deal along” (_The Fixers_, p. 177).
* 3:31 am: Cohen texted Howard: “‘Thank you’” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 43).
* 3:39 am: Howard texted Cohen and Davidson: “‘Resolution
Consultants LLC. is the name of the entity I formed a week ago.
Whenever you wake, please call my cell’” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 43).

October 10, 2016:

* 10:58 am: Howard texted Cohen and Davidson: “Keith/Michael:
connecting you both in regards to that business opportunity. Spoke to
the client this AM and they’re confirmed to proceed with the
opportunity. Thanks. Dylan. Over to you two” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 43).

* Howard also reportedly “checked in with Rodriguez” (_The
Fixers_, p. 177).

* 12:25 pm: Davidson texted Cohen: “Michael – if we are ever
going to close this deal – In my opinion, it needs to be today.
Keith” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 43).

* Immediately after: Cohen and Davidson spoke on the phone for 3
minutes (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 43).

* During this call, Cohen and Davidson reportedly negotiated the
price point for the story: “Cohen wanted to buy the story, but he
balked at [Clifford’s] six-figure demand… Davidson said $130,000
was as low as Rodriguez and [Clifford] were willing to go.” Davidson
cited a competing offer, which didn’t actually exist (_The Fixers_,
pp. 177-178).

* On or soon after October 10, 2016: Davidson and Clifford signed a
“side letter agreement” to a “confidential settlement agreement
and mutual release” signed under two pseudonyms: “Peggy
Peterson” and “David Dennison.” The side letter agreement
provided the “true name and identity” of the signatories, but only
Peterson was identified in the document (as Clifford); the Dennison
identifier and associated signature lines were left blank. A federal
investigator later hypothesized that “Davidson sent Cohen this
partially signed ‘side letter’ in order to facilitate the closing
of a deal between Davidson’s client and Cohen or Cohen’s client”
(Cohen Warrant,
[[link removed]] pp.
43-44).

Between October 10 and October 28, 2016: During a meeting in Trump’s
office, Trump allegedly told Cohen “that he had spoken to a couple
of friends, and it is 130,000, it is not a lot of money, and we should
just do it, so go ahead and do it.” Trump then reportedly directed
Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization (who
Cohen later testified was also present in the meeting), to “go back
to Mr. Weisselberg’s office and figure this all out” (Cohen
Testimony
[[link removed]],
p. 38; see also Cohen Testimony
[[link removed]],
p. 26).

October 13, 2016: Cohen began taking “steps to complete a
transaction with Davidson, including attempting to open an account
from which Cohen could transfer funds to Davidson” (Cohen Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
44).

* 8:54 a.m: Cohen texted Pecker “I need to talk to you.” (Cohen
Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
44).
* 9:06 a.m: Pecker texted Cohen: “I called please call me back.”
After this message, Pecker and Cohen appear to have moved their
communications onto Signal (Cohen Warrant,
[[link removed]] p.
44).
* 9:23 am: Cohen emailed a set of documents “from the Secretary of
State of Delaware indicating that Cohen had formed a limited liability
company called ‘Resolution Consultants LLC’ on September 30,
2016” to a First Republic Bank employee. The body of the email asked
the employee to “call me” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 45).
* 10:44 am: Cohen called the First Republic employee and told him
“that he needed an account in the name of ‘Resolution
Consultants’ opened immediately.” The account was never opened,
however, because Cohen failed to complete the requisite paperwork
(Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 45).

October 17, 2016: Cohen reportedly dissolved Resolution Consultants
and set up a new company, Essential Consultants L.L.C., two minutes
later. It appears that Cohen used the same registered agent in
Delaware for both companies (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]; _The
Fixers_, p. 237).

* That afternoon, _The Wall Street Journal_ editor Ashby Jones
reportedly shared a tip he had received on the hush money payments.
Per Jones, a “Los Angeles lawyer with the initials K.D.—the source
didn’t want to volunteer more—was traversing the country, paying
hush money to women who’d been romantically involved with Donald
Trump” (_The Fixers_, p. 188).
* At some point on this day: “Davidson emailed Cohen and
threatened to cancel the… ‘settlement agreement’ by the end of
the day if Cohen did not complete the transaction.” Davidson
followed that up with “a second email later in the day that stated
in part, ‘Please be advised that my client deems her settlement
agreement canceled and void’” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 46).
* 4:00 p.m.: Cohen called Davidson. They “spoke for over five
minutes” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 46).
* 4:43 p.m.: Howard texted Cohen: “‘I’m told they’re going
with DailyMail. Are you aware?’ One minute later, Cohen responded:
‘Call me.’” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 46).

October 18, 2016: A “thinly sourced article” posted on _The
Smoking Gun_ website reported the alleged affair between Clifford and
Trump. The story received scant attention from mainstream media;
Clifford did not respond publicly (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

October 25, 2016: Cohen, Davidson, Howard, and Pecker had several text
exchanges and calls “apparently concerning a transaction involving
Clifford” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47)

* 6:09 p.m.: “Howard sent Cohen a text message stating: ‘Keith
calling you urgently. We have to coordinate something on the matter
he’s calling you about or its [sic] could look awfully bad for
everyone.’ One minute later, Davidson sent Cohen a text message
stating ‘Call me.’ Cohen and Davidson called each other several
times over the next half hour but appear not to have connected”
(Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47)
* 6:42 p.m.: “Cohen and Davidson spoke for about eight minutes”
(Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47).
* 7:11 p.m.: Cohen and Davidson “spoke for another two minutes”
(Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47; _see also _Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
pp. 14-15).

October 26, 2016:

* 8:26 a.m.: “Cohen called Trump and spoke to him for approximately
three minutes” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47)
* 8:34 a.m.: “Cohen called Trump again and connected for a minute
and a half” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47)
* 9:04 a.m.: Cohen “emailed an incorporating service to obtain the
corporate formation documents” for Essential Consultants LLC (Cohen
Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 47-48; Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 15).
* Between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.: Cohen opened an account for
Essential Consultants LLC at the First Republic Bank in Manhattan.
After opening the account, Cohen “drew down $131,000 from the
fraudulently obtained HELOC [home equity line of credit, also held by
Cohen at First Republic Bank],” and requested that it be deposited
into the Essential Consultants account he had just opened (Cohen
Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 48; Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 15).
* 4:15 p.m.: A First Republic Bank employee confirmed that “the
funds had been deposited into the Essential Consultants account”
(Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 49).

October 27, 2016: At around 10:01 a.m., Cohen “completed paperwork
to wire $130,000 from the Essential Consultants account” to
Davidson’s attorney-client trust account at City National Bank in
Los Angeles. On the paperwork, Cohen “falsely indicated that the
‘purpose of wire being sent’ was ‘retainer.’” This payment
amounted to a contribution to the Trump campaign “in excess of the
limits of the Election Act, which aggregated $25,000 and more in
calendar year 2016” since it was made “in cooperation,
consultation, and concert with, and at the request and suggestion of
one or more members of the campaign…to ensure that she [Clifford]
did not publicize damaging allegations before the 2016 presidential
election and thereby influence that election” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 50; _The New York Times_
[[link removed]]; Cohen
Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 15, p. 19).

October 28, 2016: Cohen reportedly called Trump and updated him on the
situation. The same day, Cohen and Clifford reportedly signed “a
contract that effectively promise[d] Ms. Clifford money in exchange
for not talking about the alleged affair with Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump’s
name [did] not technically appear on the document.” (_The Fixers_,
p. 183; _The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

November 1, 2016: Davidson sent Cohen “copies of the final, signed
confidential settlement agreement and side letter agreement.” After
he confirmed delivery of the paperwork, Davidson reportedly “wired
the payment to Clifford’s account” (Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 15; _The Fixers_, p. 183).

* 7:05 p.m.: Cohen called Trump but “it appears they did not
connect. Cohen then called a telephone number belonging to Kellyanne
Conway, who at the time was Trump’s campaign manager. They did not
connect.” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 52).
* 7:44p.m.: Conway returned Cohen’s call. They spoke for
“approximately six minutes” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 52).

November 4, 2016: Four days before the general election, _The Wall
Street Journal_ published an article about the $150,000 hush money
deal between McDougal and AMI. The article referenced Clifford only
briefly, “reporting that she was considering sharing her story with
ABC News but abruptly disappeared on the network before doing so”
(_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]; _The
Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]).

* Between 4:30 and 8:00 p.m.: “Cohen communicated several times
with Howard, Pecker, and Davidson” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 53).
* 8:51 p.m.: “Cohen sent Howard a message, stating: ‘She’s
[McDougal] being really difficult with giving Keith a statement.
Basically went into hiding and unreachable.’ One minute later,
Howard responded: ‘I’ll ask him again. We just need her to
disappear.’ Cohen responded, ‘She definitely disappeared but
refused to give a statement and Keith cannot push her.’ ” (Cohen
Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 53).
* 8:55 p.m.: “Howard responded to Cohen’s text: ‘Let’s let
the dust settle. We don’t want to push her over the edge. She’s on
side [sic] at present and we have a solid position and a plausible
position that she is rightfully employed as a columnist’” (Cohen
Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 53).

November 8, 2016: Trump and Pence were elected president and vice
president of the United States (_NBC News_
[[link removed]]).

December 2016: Pecker allegedly met with Trump at Trump Tower “to
briefly offer his congratulations to the president-elect of the United
States.” Before the meeting, Cohen reportedly asked Pecker “to
urge Trump to pay Cohen more money,” especially given that Trump
“hadn’t yet repaid his fixer for the Stormy Daniels deal.”
Pecker apparently so urged Trump, but “Trump was unmoved. ‘You
don’t know how much money he’s got,’ Trump said” (_The
Fixers_, p. 197).

January 2017: Cohen sought “reimbursement for election-related
expenses” from the Trump Organization. He presented company
executives “with a copy of a bank statement from the Essential
Consultants bank account, which reflected the $130,000 payment” made
to keep Clifford “silent in advance of the election, plus a $35 wire
fee. In handwriting, Cohen added another $50,000 as a “claimed
payment for ‘tech services,’…related to work [he] had solicited
from a technology company during and in connection with the
campaign.” The Trump Organization executives “grossed up” the
total $180,035 reimbursement request to $360,000 “for tax
purposes,” then “added a bonus of $60,000” for a final total
$420,000 payment to Cohen. They decided to make the payments “in
monthly amounts of $35,000 over the course of twelve months,” for
which Cohen would send invoices (Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
pp. 16-17; _PBS_
[[link removed]] and _USA
Today_
[[link removed]]).

January 2017: Cohen left the Trump Organization and “began holding
himself out” as Trump’s personal attorney (Cohen Criminal
Information
[[link removed]],
p. 1).

January 2017: During another visit to Trump Tower, Trump allegedly
thanked Pecker for “buying [McDougal’s] story and burying it”
(_The Fixers_, p. 197).

February 14, 2017: Cohen sent a Trump Organization executive
(allegedly, Weisselberg) the first monthly invoice for his
reimbursement payments. Cohen’s invoice requested $35,000 for
January and $35,000 for February “[p]ursuant to [a] retainer
agreement” for “services rendered.” Weisselberg “forwarded the
invoice to another executive of the Company (“Executive-2”) the
same day by email, and it was approved.” Weisselberg forwarded the
approval email to another Trump Organization employee and instructed
them,“Please pay from the Trust. Post to legal expenses. Put
‘retainer for the months of January and February 2017’ in the
description.” Accordingly, the Trump Organization “accounted for
these payments as legal expenses,” though “[i]n truth and fact,
there was no such retainer agreement” and Cohen’s invoices “were
not in connection with any legal services he had provided in 2017.”
The first check to Cohen for $70,000 was reportedly signed the same
day by Weisselberg and Donald Trump Jr. (Cohen Criminal Information
[[link removed]],
p. 17; _The Fixers_, pp. 209–210; _POLITICO_
[[link removed]]; _The
New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

March 17, 2017: Donald Trump Jr. and Weisselberg signed a $35,000
check to Cohen (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

May 23, 2017: Trump himself signed a $35,000 dollar check to Cohen
from his personal account. Trump ultimately signed six of the publicly
known checks to Cohen (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

August 1, 2017: Trump signed the second $35,000 dollar check to Cohen,
again from his personal account (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

September 12, 2017: Trump signed the third $35,000 dollar check to
Cohen, again from his personal account (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

October 18, 2017: Trump signed the fourth $35,000 dollar check to
Cohen, again from his personal account (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

October 20, 2017: The DOJ granted special counsel Robert Mueller
“authorization to investigate Cohen, among others, and to follow
leads related to his creation and use of Essential Consultants” as
Mueller deepened his investigation into the Trump campaign’s
possible collusion with Russia (_The Fixers_, p. 221).

Circa Late October 2017: Davidson claims to have received “an
unusual inquiry” from a client manager at his bank in Los Angeles
asking about the source and purpose of the wire transfer he had made
to Clifford the previous year. In response, Davidson reportedly
“told the bank that the payment had originated with Essential
Consultants, and that it was for a legal settlement.” He then
reportedly called Cohen to report the conversation. Cohen was
reportedly “concerned that someone pretending to be a bank employee
had tried to get Davidson to divulge the nondisclosure agreement”
but “didn’t seem to grasp the potential peril” that the Mueller
investigation was behind the inquiry. Cohen allegedly “did, however,
secretly record their phone call” (_The Fixers_, p. 221).

November 21, 2017: Trump signed the fifth $35,000 dollar check to
Cohen, again from his personal account (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

December 5, 2017: Trump signed the sixth and final $35,000 dollar
check to Cohen, again from his personal account (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

January 12, 2018: News broke that Cohen had allegedly arranged a deal
to pay Clifford $130,000 to keep her silent during the 2016 campaign.
In response, Cohen released a statement addressed to _The Wall Street
Journal_ claiming, “These rumors have circulated time and again
since 2011. President Trump once again vehemently denies any such
occurrence as has Ms. Daniels.” Cohen also forwarded _The
Journal _a two-paragraph statement signed by “Stormy Daniels”
denying the affair. A White House official separately stated, “These
are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied
before the election” (_The Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]; _The
New York Times_
[[link removed]]; _see
also_ _The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

January 17, 2018: _In Touch_ published the transcript of its
previously-quashed 2011 interview with Clifford (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

January 18, 2018: _The Wall Street Journal_ reported that Cohen had
used “a private Delaware company,” Essential Consultants LLC, to
make the $130,000 payment to Clifford (_The Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]).

January 22, 2018: Government watchdog organization Common Cause filed
an FEC complaint alleging that Cohen’s payment to Clifford had
violated campaign finance laws. (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 55).

January 30, 2018: During an interview on _Jimmy Kimmel Live_,
Clifford neither confirmed nor denied her alleged affair with Trump
and “strongly hint[ed] that she is subject to an NDA.” Hours
before Clifford’s interview, Davidson reportedly drafted a second
denial statement at the behest of “Cohen and company.” The
statement reportedly asserted that Clifford was not denying the affair
“because [she] was paid ‘hush money,’” but because “it never
happened.” Clifford allegedly signed the document “without
complaint,” but changed her handwriting “as if in subtle
protest.” When Kimmel questioned whether Clifford had actually
signed the denial, she responded, “‘I don’t know, did I? That
doesn’t look like my signature, does it?’” (_The Washington
Post_
[[link removed]]; _The
Fixers_, p. 242-243).

February 8, 2018: In response to an inquiry from the FEC, one of
Cohen’s attorneys sent a letter stating, “In a private transaction
in 2016, before the U.S. presidential election, Mr. Cohen used his own
personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie
Clifford. Neither the Trump Organization
[[link removed]] nor the
Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and
neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or
indirectly.” (Letter to the FEC Office of Complaints Examination
[[link removed]]).

February 13, 2018: In a statement to _The New York Times, _Cohen
claimed that “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign
was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford. The payment to Ms.
Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or campaign
expenditure by anyone” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 56).

On or about February 14, 2018: _The_ _New York Times_ asked Cohen
“whether Trump had reimbursed him, whether he and Trump had made any
arrangements at the time of the payment, or whether he had made
payments to other women. Cohen stated in response, ‘I can’t get
into any of that’” (Cohen Warrant
[[link removed]],
p. 56).

February 15, 2018: Likely believing that Cohen’s comments to _The
New York Times _had nullified her NDA, Clifford’s agent told _AP
News_ that “Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her
story” (_AP News_
[[link removed]]_)._

February 16, 2018: The _New Yorker_ published a story featuring
details of McDougal’s alleged affair with Trump based on “an
eight-page, handwritten document” created by McDougal and provided
to the magazine by Crawford. McDougal granted an interview for the
piece but “expressed surprise” that the magazine had obtained her
notes. During her interview, McDougal “declined to discuss her
relationship with Trump for fear of violating the agreement she had
reached with [AMI].” In an email to AMI’s general counsel soon
after the article dropped, McDougal’s lawyer reportedly asserted
that while “McDougal was not contractually required to keep
quiet,” her client would “consider entering into a fresh
nondisclosure agreement if [AMI] was willing to pay her more money. If
not, she’d grant more interviews” (_The New Yorker_
[[link removed]]_;
The Fixers_, pp. 248–250).

February 22, 2018: Cohen reportedly initiated secret arbitration
proceedings following Clifford’s media engagements (_The Fixers_, p.
251).

February 27, 2018: An arbitrator reportedly “found that Ms. Clifford
had violated the [NDA] agreement” and issued a restraining order
against Clifford (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]_)._

March 6, 2018: Clifford filed a lawsuit “asserting that the
nondisclosure agreement that accompanied the $130,000 was void because
Mr. Trump never signed it.” The complaint revealed the arbitration
proceedings Cohen had initiated in an effort to silence Clifford, as
well as the terms of the contract Clifford had signed on October 28,
2016 (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]_)._

March 7, 2018: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press
secretary, asserted that “there was no knowledge of any payments
from the president” and “he has denied all these allegations.”
The same day, Clifford’s attorney, Michael Avenatti (who had
replaced Davidson at this point), publicly and explicitly asserted
“that [Clifford] had a sexual relationship with Trump” (_The New
York Times_
[[link removed]]; _The
Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

March 9, 2018: Avanetti provided _ABC News_ with a set of emails
that he claimed contained communications between Cohen and First
Republic Bank surrounding the 2016 payment to Davidson, who was still
Clifford’s attorney at the time. _NBC News _separately broke the
news that Cohen had used his Trump Organization email for the
exchange. Cohen responded by downplaying the emails as
“corroborat[ing] all my previous statements.” He went on to
describe how the payment was made, stating, “The funds were taken
from my home equity line and transferred internally to my L.L.C.
account in the same bank.” Cohen also brushed aside the revelation
that he had used his Trump Organization email to coordinate the
transaction, stating “I sent emails from the Trump Org email address
to my family, friends as well as Trump business emails. I basically
used it for everything. I am certain most people can
relate.”_ (__ABC News_
[[link removed]]; _NBC_
[[link removed]]).

March 14, 2018: _The Wall Street Journal_ published a story
highlighting the role that Jill Martin, the Trump Organization’s
assistant general counsel, played in the arbitration at the request of
Eric Trump. Per the _Journal_’s article, Avenatti supplied the
outlet with documents Martin had signed, “for the first time [tying]
President Donald Trump’s flagship holding company to the continuing
effort to silence [Clifford]” (_The Fixers_, pp. 263–265; _The
Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]).

March 16, 2018: Trump sought “$20 million in damages from [Clifford]
for allegedly [breaking the] nondisclosure agreement 20 times. A
lawyer for Cohen’s limited liability company, Essential Consultants,
made the claim in papers filed in federal court” (_The Washington
Post_
[[link removed]]).

Mid-March 2018: Two weeks after Clifford sued Trump and Essential
Consultants, McDougal reportedly brought “a case against [AMI] in
the same Los Angeles court” (_The Fixers_, p. 268).

March 25, 2018: Clifford was interviewed on _60 Minutes_ (60 Minutes
[[link removed]]).

March 26, 2018: Clifford amended her lawsuit against both Trump and
Cohen to sue Cohen for defamation, which she claimed had occurred when
Cohen put out his February 2018 statement about the $130,000 payment.
The lawsuit argued that Cohen’s statement had caused Clifford
“hatred, contempt, ridicule, and shame, and discouraged others from
associating or dealing with her” and that she “ha[d] suffered
damages in an amount to be proven at trial according to proof,
including but not limited to, harm to her reputation, emotional harm,
exposure to contempt, ridicule, and shame, and physical threats of
violence to her person and life” (_NPR_
[[link removed]]).

April 5, 2018: Trump delivered his first public remarks
[[link removed]] about
the alleged Clifford affair and ensuing hush money payment. When asked
by a reporter if he knew about the payment to Clifford, Trump
responded “No.” In response to another question asking why Cohen
had made the payment, Trump answered “You’ll have to ask Michael
Cohen. Michael is my attorney.” Trump also claimed that he did not
know the source of the money for the payment (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

April 9, 2018: As part of a probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in
Manhattan, the FBI raided Cohen’s Rockefeller Center office, Park
Avenue hotel room, and home. Federal investigators reportedly seized
eight boxes of documents and millions of electronic files including
business records, emails, and bank records related to a payment to
Clifford from Cohen’s office, among other matters (_The New York
Times_
[[link removed]]; _The
Fixers_, p. 286).

April 15, 2018: Reports became public that the U.S. attorney’s
office in Manhattan was investigating possible bank fraud in
connection with Cohen’s payment to Clifford, which he had made using
his home-equity credit line (_The Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]_)_.

April 17, 2018: Clifford and her attorney released a composite sketch
of the man she claimed had threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot.
Clifford’s attorney offered a $100,000 reward for information that
would lead to the man’s apprehension (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

April 18, 2018: AMI reached a settlement agreement with McDougal,
freeing McDougal to publicly discuss her alleged affair with Trump.
McDougal’s original suit claimed that she had been misled into
signing the contract that sold AMI the rights to her story about
Trump; the suit also alleged that Cohen had been secretly involved in
the negotiations between AMI and McDougal’s lawyer. The settlement
agreement foreclosed the possibility of pretrial discovery, which
could have revealed emails and other evidence beyond what was found in
the FBI’s April 9 raid (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

April 21, 2018: As some speculated whether Cohen would “flip“ and
begin cooperating with government investigators against Trump, the
president tweeted that “most people will flip if the government lets
them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories.
Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that.” He described Cohen as a
“fine person with a wonderful family.”

April 26, 2018: Trump admitted that Cohen had represented him in
dealing with Clifford in an interview on _Fox & Friends_, stating,
“He represents me, like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he
represented me” (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

April 30, 2018: Clifford filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in
Manhattan federal court. The suit focused on a tweet
[[link removed]] Trump
had sent on April 18, 2018 related to the sketch of the man who
allegedly threatened Clifford in 2011 (_The Wall Street Journal_
[[link removed]]).

May 2, 2018: During a _Fox News_ interview, Rudolph Giuliani
(Trump’s new lawyer) acknowledged and described Trump’s repayments
to Cohen for the hush money. Giuliani stated that “they funneled it
[the $130,000 payment to Clifford] through a law firm, and the
president repaid it” (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

May 3, 2018: Trump tweeted that he did pay Cohen
[[link removed]] a
monthly retainer, but reiterated that the payments had “nothing to
do with the campaign” (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

July 2, 2018: “My wife, my daughter and my son have my first
loyalty and always will,” Cohen told ABC News’s George
Stephanopoulos. “I put family and country first” (_ABC News_
[[link removed]]_). _Stephanopoulos
wrote that “Cohen strongly signaled his willingness to cooperate
with special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the
Southern District of New York — even if that puts President Trump in
jeopardy.”

July 24, 2018: _CNN_ released
[[link removed]] an
audio tape of Trump and Cohen discussing what appears to be the plan
to buy the rights to McDougal’s story. In the recording, Cohen
explicitly mentions what appears to be the plan to set up a shell
company to execute the payment, stating “I need to open up a company
for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David”
(_CNN_
[[link removed]]_; __The
Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

July 25, 2018: Trump tweeted a response
[[link removed]] to
the tape and suggested it was doctored by Cohen: “What kind of a
lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it
before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was
presumably saying positive things?” (_POLITICO_
[[link removed]]).

July 26, 2018: Press reports continued to circulate that Cohen might
be “flipping” on Trump and could cooperate with the investigation.
(CNN
[[link removed]])

August 21, 2018: Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to
charges including campaign finance violations and criminal tax
evasion. Cohen told the judge that Trump had directed him to arrange
the hush money payments, which he claimed were intended to prevent
Clifford and McDougal from speaking publicly about their alleged
affairs with Trump (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]; Cohen
Plea Press Release
[[link removed]]).

August 22, 2018: Trump claimed that the payments to Clifford and
McDougal were legal because they “came from me” rather than his
campaign. “They weren’t taken out of campaign finance, that’s
the big thing,” he told _Fox & Friends _(_USA Today_
[[link removed]]).

September 20, 2018: AMI privately signed a non-prosecution agreement
protecting the company from criminal charges out of the SDNY U.S.
Attorney’s Office. In exchange, AMI agreed to “cooperate fully”
with investigators and fully disclose all information related to the
hush money payments. (AMI Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]]).

December 7, 2018: Federal prosecutors released Cohen’s sentencing
memo. In its summary of Cohen’s crimes, the memo endorsed Cohen’s
claims that Cohen had carried out both hush money payments “in
coordination with and at the direction of” Trump (Cohen Sentencing
Memo
[[link removed]],
pp. 2-4, 13-15).

December 12, 2018: Prosecutors released the details of the
non-prosecution agreement with AMI, revealing the extent of AMI’s
involvement in the hush money payments and corroborating many aspects
of Cohen’s story. Among the key revelations was that “AMI’s
principal purpose in entering into the agreement was to suppress the
model’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the
election”–indicating that the payments were likely
campaign-related.

(_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]; AMI
Non-Prosecution Agreement
[[link removed]]).

December 12, 2018: Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a
litany of financial crimes committed while he was in Trump’s employ.
Cohen was also sentenced the same day in a separate case for making
false statements to Congress (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]; DOJ
Press Release
[[link removed].]).

January 10, 2019: Congressional Democrats announced that Cohen had
agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee on February 7 (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

January 11, 2019: Avenatti announced that he and Clifford would attend
the Cohen hearing on February 7 (_POLITICO_
[[link removed]]).

January 23, 2019: Cohen postponed his February 7 appearance before
Congress after reportedly receiving “threats against his family”
from Trump and Giuliani. (_USA Today_
[[link removed]]).

February 5, 2019: Clifford dropped her defamation claim against Cohen.
Avenatti stated “We asked that the minor defamation claim be
dismissed and it was because the court sided with us and against
Cohen” (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

February 27, 2019: Cohen testified publicly against Trump before the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. (Cohen’s testimony
can be found here
[[link removed]].)
When asked if Trump’s organization had made other hush money
payments during the campaign, Cohen claimed that Pecker had sent money
to other individuals under similar circumstances—and that “not all
of them had to do with women” (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]; _POLITICO_
[[link removed]]).

March 7, 2019: Cohen sued the Trump Organization for breach of
contract and sought reimbursement for $1.9 million in legal fees
incurred after Cohen began cooperating with federal prosecutors. The
complaint also claimed that the Trump Organization was responsible for
paying the nearly $2 million penalty imposed after Cohen pleaded
guilty (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

July 18, 2019: Court documents were unsealed that publicly revealed
the communications among Trump, Hicks, Cohen, and several AMI
executives in the days following the _Access Hollywood _tape release
in 2016. The documents also appeared to show that “Cohen learned
around the same time that Clifford had been considering going public
with her claim that she had sex with Trump…. at least some of these
communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going
public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story”
(_CNBC_
[[link removed]]).

August 1, 2019: Manhattan DA Cyrus R. Vance Jr. subpoenaed the Trump
Organization for documents related to the Clifford hush money
payments.(_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

May 21, 2020: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cohen was released from
federal prison to serve the remainder of his sentence at home (_AP
News_
[[link removed]]).

July 9, 2020: Federal marshals took Cohen back into custody after he
“refused the conditions of his home confinement.” Probation
officers had reportedly asked Cohen to agree to a set of conditions
including “no engagement of any kind with the media, including
print, TV, film, books, or any other form of media/news” for the
remainder of his home confinement. Cohen reportedly refused and was
brought to a federal detention facility (_The New York Times_
[[link removed].]).

July 23, 2020: A federal judge ordered Cohen’s return to home
confinement after finding that his re-imprisonment amounted to a
retaliatory act undertaken by the government. During the hearing, the
judge stated “I cannot believe fairly that it was not in purpose …
to stop his exercise of First Amendment rights.” Cohen had planned
to publish a tell-all book about Trump during his confinement (_USA
Today_
[[link removed]]).

July 31, 2020: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower
court ruling dismissing Clifford’s 2018 libel lawsuit against Trump
(_POLITICO_
[[link removed]]).

April 26, 2021: The FEC voted to dismiss a 2018 and a 2019 complaint
against Cohen for his role in the Clifford payments. The commissioners
found that since “the public record is complete with respect to the
conduct at issue in these complaints, and Mr. Cohen has been punished
by the government of the United States for the conduct at issue in
these matters…pursuing these matters further was not the best use of
agency resources” (FEC Statement of Reasons
[[link removed]]).

May 6, 2021: In a split decision that fell along partisan lines, the
FEC voted against investigating charges that Trump and his Committee
had violated campaign finance laws in the process of making the 2016
Clifford payment and subsequent Cohen reimbursements. The dissenting
commissioners noted: “We voted to support OGC’s recommendations to
find reason to believe that Trump and the Committee knowingly and
willfully accepted an excessive contribution from Cohen and a
prohibited corporate or excessive contribution from the Trump
Organization, that the Committee knowingly and willfully filed false
disclosure reports, and that the Trump Organization knowingly and
willfully made a corporate or excessive contribution through its
reimbursements to Cohen. There is ample evidence in the record to
support the finding that Trump and the Committee knew of, and
nonetheless accepted, the illegal contributions at issue here”;
“the Commission’s Office of the General Counsel (‘OGC’)
recommended finding reason to believe that Cohen and the Trump
Organization made, and Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
(the ‘Committee’) accepted and failed to report, illegal
contributions.” (FEC Statement of Reasons
[[link removed]]).

June 1, 2021: The FEC reached a settlement with AMI after the
commission concluded that the company (allegedly at the direction of
Trump and Cohen) had “knowingly and willfully” violated campaign
finance laws through its payments to McDougal. AMI acknowledged the
violations and agreed to pay a $187,500 fine, but did not admit to
“knowingly and willfully” committing them (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

November 12, 2021: In Cohen’s civil suit against the Trump
Organization, a Manhattan state court ruled that the company was not
required to reimburse Cohen for the millions of dollars in legal fees
that Cohen sought. In a statement to CNN, the Trump Organization
called the decision an “incredible victory” (_Forbes_
[[link removed]]).

November 22, 2021: Cohen’s three-year prison sentence, which had
largely been served in home confinement, ended. (_AP News_
[[link removed]]).

December 17, 2021: Cohen filed a civil rights lawsuit against Trump
and several other DOJ officials, seeking damages for alleged First,
Fourth, and Eighth Amendment violations related to his re-confinement
in federal prison the prior year (_Law&Crime_
[[link removed]]).

November 14, 2022: A Trump-appointed judge dismissed Cohen’s civil
rights lawsuit (_Law&Crime_
[[link removed]]; Cohen
v. U.S. et al. decision
[[link removed]]).

November 15, 2022: In a 5-0 decision, a New York state appeals court
revived Cohen’s previous lawsuit seeking legal fee reimbursements
from the Trump Organization. The court found that the presiding judge
had incorrectly dismissed the case, opening a path for Cohen to sue
the Trump Organization again (_Reuters_
[[link removed]]; Cohen
v. Trump Organization LLC
[[link removed]]).

November 21, 2022: Reports emerged that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
planned to revive his office’s criminal investigation into the
Clifford hush-money payment. Bragg’s predecessor had examined the
payment as possible grounds for a criminal indictment years before,
but his office later reportedly decided that the surrounding legal
theories were too risky to pursue the matter further (_The New York
Times_
[[link removed]]).

January 30, 2023: Bragg convened a grand jury to hear evidence related
to the Clifford hush money payment (_The Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

March 1, 2023: Kellyanne Conway reportedly met with prosecutors from
Bragg’s office, likely to discuss the ongoing hush money
investigation (_MSNBC_
[[link removed]]).

March 6, 2023: Hicks reportedly met with prosecutors from Bragg’s
office (_MSNBC_
[[link removed]]).

March 9, 2023: Bragg invited Trump to testify before the grand jury,
according to one of Trump’s lawyers (_AP_
[[link removed](AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Former,to%20one%20of%20his%20lawyers.]).

March 13, 2023: Cohen reportedly testified before the grand jury (_The
Washington Post_
[[link removed]]).

March 15, 2023: An attorney for Clifford stated that Clifford had met
with Manhattan prosecutors and agreed to “make herself available as
a witness, or for further inquiry if needed” (_CBS)_
[[link removed]].

March 18, 2023: In a _Truth Social_ thread, Trump claimed that he
would be arrested the following Tuesday, March 21, 2023. In a tweet,
GOP House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy separately announced that
“he would direct House committees to investigate” Bragg and his
office. McCarthy stated that Bragg’s potential prosecution of Trump
is “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent
criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President
Trump,” and that he planned to direct “relevant committees to
immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our
democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated
prosecutions.” Following these posts, Bragg wrote in an internal
email to his staff that his office would “not tolerate attempts to
intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York”
(_Truth Social_
[[link removed]];_ see
also_ _Truth Social_
[[link removed]]; _POLITICO_
[[link removed]]; _CNN_
[[link removed]]).

March 19, 2023: Trump commented on the Manhattan investigation in
another series of _Truth Social_ posts, claiming that Bragg was
funded by billionaire George Soros and that he had no evidence of
criminal wrongdoing on Trump’s part (_See, for example,_ _Truth
Social_
[[link removed]]_ and __Truth
Social_
[[link removed]]).

March 20, 2023: Robert Costello appeared before the Manhattan grand
jury as a witness on behalf of Trump. Throughout the day, Trump
continued to post about the investigation on _Truth Social_ (_PBS_
[[link removed]]; _Truth
Social_
[[link removed]]; _see
also __Truth Social_
[[link removed]])

* Separately, Jim Jordan, James Comer, and Bryan Steil (chairmen of
the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Administration committees,
respectively) sent a letter
[[link removed]] requesting
that Bragg testify before Congress, calling the Trump investigation an
“unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority” and a
“politically motivated prosecution.” When asked about the letter,
McCarthy stated that the congressmen were “just ‘asking
questions.’” A spokesperson for Bragg responded to the letter the
same day, stating “We will not be intimidated by attempts to
undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations
deter us from fairly applying the law” (_CNN_
[[link removed]]).

March 23, 2023: Bragg’s office released a formal response to Jordan,
Comer, and Steil’s request. Leslie Dubeck, general counsel for the
DA’s office, told the chairmen that “they lacked a ‘legitimate
basis for congressional inquiry’” and indicated that their probe
“only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he
would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to
intervene” (Manhattan DA Letter
[[link removed]]; _CNN_
[[link removed]]).

* The same day, ​Trump posted an image of himself “holding a
baseball bat alongside a picture of Bragg’s head” on _Truth
Social_. The post was later deleted. In two other _Truth
Social_ posts, Trump called Bragg a “SOROS BACKED ANIMAL [sic]”
and levied what appeared to be criticism of those calling for peaceful
protest: “OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE
PEACEFUL!” (_The_ _Washington Post_
[[link removed]]; _The
New York Times_
[[link removed]]; _Truth
Social_
[[link removed]]; _Truth
Social_
[[link removed]]).

March 24, 2023: Trump explicitly referenced the possibility of
violence surrounding his possible arrest, posting on _Truth
Social _that the “potential death & destruction in such a false
charge could be catastrophic for our Country” (_Truth Social_
[[link removed]]).

March 25, 2023: Jordan, Comer, and Steil sent a second letter
[[link removed]] to
Bragg, arguing that the potential criminal indictment of Trump
“implicate[d] substantial federal interests.” That evening, Bragg
tweeted a response to the chairmen, stating “We evaluate cases in
our jurisdiction based on the facts, the law, and the evidence. It is
not appropriate for Congress to interfere with pending local
investigations. This unprecedented inquiry by federal elected
officials into an ongoing matter serves only to hinder, disrupt and
undermine the legitimate work of our dedicated prosecutors. As always,
we will continue to follow the facts and be guided by the rule of law
in everything we do” (_CNN_
[[link removed]]; _Twitter_
[[link removed]]).

March 27, 2023: Pecker reportedly testified before the Manhattan grand
jury for the second time (_The New York Times_
[[link removed]]).

_[GRETCHEN KNAUT is the research director at a pro bono law firm in
Washington, DC. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in
2020._

_AMBASSADOR NORMAN EISEN (ret.) (@NormEisen
[[link removed]]) served in the White House as special
counsel and special assistant to the president for ethics and
government reform and as ambassador to the Czech Republic under
President Barack Obama, as well as special counsel to the House
Judiciary Committee from 2019–20, including for the first
impeachment and trial of President Donald Trump._

_MCKENZIE CARRIER is a Spring 2023 Research Intern in the Governance
Studies Program at The Brookings Institution and a student at Cornell
University._

_VICKA HEIDT is a Spring 2023 Research Intern in the Governance
Studies Program at The Brookings Institution and a student at
Georgetown University._

_GREG PHEA (@GregPhea [[link removed]]) is a Spring 2023
Research Intern in the Governance Studies Program at The Brookings
Institution and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin._

_MADISON GEE is a project and research assistant in the Governance
Studies program at the Brookings Institution.]_

_Just Security [[link removed]] is based at the Reiss
Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law._

* Donald Trump
[[link removed]]
* Alvin Bragg
[[link removed]]
* Manhattan District Attorney
[[link removed]]
* Michael Cohen
[[link removed]]
* Stephanie Clifford
[[link removed]]
* Stormy Daniels
[[link removed]]
* false business records
[[link removed]]
* fraud
[[link removed]]
* election law violations
[[link removed]]
* criminal indictment of a U.S. president
[[link removed]]
* MAGA
[[link removed]]
* GOP
[[link removed]]
* Republican Party
[[link removed]]
* criminal conspiracy
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

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