Former President Trump is facing a grand jury probe in Manhattan, and adult film star Stormy Daniels is at the center of the investigation.
The probe is focused on a $130,000 alleged hush money payment that Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, made on his behalf to Daniels just before the 2016 election.
Cohen has said that he made the payment at Trump’s direction to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged affair, and that Trump later reimbursed him for it.
The Trump team has labeled the payment as legal expenses and did not report it in campaign finance records.
The charges against Trump are likely to include falsifying business records and concealing hush money payments as legitimate payments to a lawyer.
There may also be a second charge of using those hush money payments to conceal election fraud.
Although Trump and his lawyers concede that the payment to Daniels occurred, they deny the alleged affair and any wrongdoing.
The investigation into Trump’s actions with regards to Daniels is the longest running of several ongoing probes that he is facing.
However, if he is charged in connection with the payoff to Daniels, it would be the weakest case of all the investigations federal and state that are pending against him.
It remains unclear why Trump is being charged now, given that these alleged events occurred more than six years ago.
Overall, the investigation into Trump’s actions with regards to Stormy Daniels remains ongoing and continues to be a topic of interest for many.