The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office into Donald Trump’s hush-money payments to a porn star, which led to the vote to indict the former president, has spanned nearly five years.
Here are some key moments:
Aug. 21, 2018
Michael Cohen says he arranged hush-money payments for the president, and the investigation begins.
Cohen, previously a personal lawyer and fixer for Trump, pleaded guilty to federal crimes and told a court that Trump had directed him to arrange hush-money payments to two women. The payments were made during the 2016 campaign to keep the women from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had conducted with Trump.
Soon after Cohen’s admission, the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation to examine if the payments broke New York state laws. The office soon paused the inquiry at the request of federal prosecutors, who were still looking into the same conduct.
August 2019
The district attorney’s office subpoenas the Trump Organization.
After federal prosecutors said they had “effectively concluded” their investigation, Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney at the time, revived his own inquiry. Late in the month, prosecutors in his office issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization and another subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm, demanding eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns.
Sept. 19, 2019
Trump’s lawyers sue to protect his tax returns.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, argued that a sitting president cannot be criminally investigated. It led to a lengthy delay.
July 9, 2020
Vance wins his first key victory at the U.S. Supreme Court.
After appellate judges ruled against Trump, the lawsuit found its way to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that the presidency did not shield Trump from criminal inquiries and that he had no absolute right to block the release of his tax returns.
The ruling left Trump with the…
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