Stormy Daniels: All versions of the president | International

It should not be so difficult. There is a porn actress who is very clear about what happened. Days before the 2016 election, Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid him $ 130,000 for signing a confidentiality agreement about a sexual relationship that she claims to have had with Trump years ago. It is done. But when Stormy Daniels (stage name of Stephanie Clifford) decided to denounce that agreement before a judge to get rid of him, it unleashed a spiral of nervousness and contradictions in the Trump environment that has become the main problem of his presidency, which is already say. Each statement is a mine. The storm of contradictions has reached the climax this week, stepping on each other in a matter of hours. The one who has batted in the last three days, something has been lost. This is a compilation of all the versions about the Stormy Daniels scandal that has given the environment of Trump. All but one, that of Daniels, who has not changed a comma in his story, in writing and before a judge.

January 12. "We already deny this"

The newspaper that uncovered this issue, The Wall Street Journal publishes that Michael Cohen was the one who paid Daniels for his silence. Cohen's response is: "They have been trying to fix this false narrative for a year; a narrative that has been constantly denied by all parties since 2011. " It is the date on which Daniels gave an interview on this subject that was not published. She claims that they physically threatened her to be silent. A spokesman for the White House says: "This was already published and we denied it before the elections."

February 13. "Trump did not reimburse me"

Cohen admits the story for the first time. He is forced because an organization dedicated to transparency makes a complaint. By being aimed at improving the image of the candidate, the payment can be an illegal donation to the campaign, a federal crime. In response to The New York Times Cohen says he "facilitated" the payment with his own money: "Neither the Trump Organization nor the campaign took part in the transaction with Mrs. Clifford, nor did they reimburse me directly nor indirectly (…) The payment was legal and it was not a campaign contribution. "

March 7. "Not that I know"

Daniels presents his lawsuit in Los Angeles. They ask for the first time to the spokeswoman of the White House, Sarah Huckabee, on the payment. Huckabee opens a new front by saying: "This case has already won arbitration and there is no knowledge of any payment by the president, and he has denied these accusations." When pressed on whether Trump knew it, he replies: "Not that I know." The issue of arbitration is new for everyone. In a matter of hours, it is proven that, indeed, Trump's lawyers have achieved an arbitration award that reinforces the confidentiality agreement. They have done it in secret and without communicating it to Daniels.

April 5. "No"

Trump speaks for the first time. On a trip aboard Air Force One, he approaches the press and a reporter asks if he knew the payment to Stormy Daniels. "No no. What else? "Are his first words on this subject. Then they ask him why that payment would be made if, according to Trump, the affair with Daniels never occurred. "You will have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my lawyer. They have to ask him. " Someone else asks Trump if he knows where the money came from. "No, I do not know. No. "

April 9. The FBI enters the scene

Early in the morning of a Monday, the FBI is presented with search warrants in the office, home and hotel room of Michael Cohen in New York. They take papers, mobiles and computers. The order is endorsed by the leadership of the Department of Justice. Such an aggressive movement reveals that the indications of crime are serious and that the judge believes that there is a risk of non-collaboration on the part of Cohen. Sources of the investigation reveal that the records are to seek information about payments to Daniels and another woman.

April 18. "A man who does not exist"

Stromy Daniels reveals to the press the robot portrait of the man who allegedly threatened her in 2011 on behalf of Trump. The president tweets for the first time about this and says. "A sketch years later about a man who does not exist. A total deception, playing with the fake news media (but you know it!). "

April 26. "He represented me in this crazy arrangement of Stromy Daniels"

The president enters by telephone on his favorite show Fox & Friends, and derails for half an hour. Recognize for the first time in a sentence the connection with Cohen and Daniels. "He represented me in this crazy arrangement of Stormy Daniels. He did absolutely nothing wrong (…) There were no campaign funds in this, which would have been a problem. " On the FBI investigation, he says: "From what I understand, they are looking at their businesses. I'm not involved, I've been told I'm not involved. " Trump now distances himself from Cohen, whom he says he makes "a very small part" of his "legal work."

May 2. "The president reimbursed him"

The latest addition to Trump's legal team, Rudy Giuliani, goes on television and destroys all of the above. "It's not campaign money. They channeled it through a law firm and the president reimbursed it. " In addition, it details that they were payments of $ 35,000 per month up to a total of $ 460,000 or $ 470,000 for that concept and other works of Cohen.

Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are …..

- Donald J. Trump (@ realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018

… 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

… despite having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.

- Donald J. Trump (@ realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018

May 3. "False extortion"

In three tweets with a strange legal language, Trump confirms the payments as part of monthly fees "to stop the false and extortionate accusations" about an affair . Trump again insists that "neither the money nor the campaign contributions were used for these transactions." It is the first admission under Trump's signature of all history, in open contradiction to his refusals on April 5. That same day, Sarah Huckabee tells the press that she did not know this when she talked about it the other time and that she found out later. "The first time I heard was in the interview last night," he said, and diverted the questions to Giuliani.

May 4. "He has to learn the details"

Before leaving for Texas, the president returns to speak with the media. He now seems to contradict his own tweets and Giuliani by saying that he "has only one day" as his lawyer and that he "has yet to learn the details". "Rudy knows this is a witch hunt. You've seen enough of these. It's awful". Shortly after, Giuliani publishes a statement that attempts to qualify his explosive statements: "My references to the times did not describe what the president knew, but what I knew about the matter." Of course, it once again insists on the only point that seems to really worry Trump's environment so as not to contradict himself: "The campaign rules were not violated."