Trump attended the American CenturyCelebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where Wicked Pictures, the production company whose adult films she starred in, had set up a booth.
According to Daniels, the two met at the event, had dinner and then consensual sex in a hotel room. She said that Trump told her that she could appear on his show The Apprentice.
Trump was married to his current wife, Melania, for about a year, and his youngest son, Barron, was born several months before. Although there are photos of Trump and Daniels at the tournament, he has denied that he had sex with Daniels.
July 2007
Daniels told 60 Minutes on CBS News in 2018 that a year after the golf tournament, Trump invited her to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss her possible appearance on his reality television show The Apprentice. She never appeared on the show.
April 2011
Daniels considered selling her account of sex with Trump but ultimately did not, she told 60 Minutes.
May 2011
She took a polygraph test, which supported her account that she had sex with Trump.
Daniels wanted to go public with her account of the sexual encounter. A lawyer for Daniels, Keith Davidson, sent a text message to an editor of The National Enquirer, reading “I have blockbuster Trump story.”
Former President Donald Trump, with his lawyer Todd Blanche, speaks to members of the media as he arrives at court. Photo / AP
July 2016
Trump secured the Republican Party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
October 2016
David Pecker, then the publisher of The Enquirer, said he spoke with the tabloid’s editor, Dylan Howard, and told him that he did not want to associate the publication with a porn actor, according to testimony in the 2024 criminal trial. Pecker said in the trial that he did not want to spend more money on hush-money deals involving allegations against Trump, after making two other deals in previous months.
Pecker testified that he told Howard to reach out to Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Later in the month, Davidson and Cohen exchanged emails and phone calls about a possible hush-money deal to bury the story of Daniels’ alleged encounter with Trump. Howard was also part of the negotiations.
Near the end of the month, Cohen wired US$130,000 ($217,000) from a newly formed entity, Essential Consultants, to Daniels.
November 2016
Trump won the presidential election.
February 2017
The repayment began from Trump to Cohen’s hush-money deal and continued in parts throughout the year. The total payments to Cohen were US$420,000 ($700,000) for the hush-money deal, a bonus and additional cash for tax considerations.
The Trump Organisation recorded the payments as “legal expenses,” citing a legal retainer with Cohen. Prosecutors say that no legal retainer existed and recording the payments as “legal expenses” was a falsification of business records. They underpin the criminal charges against Trump.
January 2018
The Wall Street Journal reported that Daniels received a US$130,000 hush-money deal from Cohen days before the 2016 election.
Later in the month, Daniels denied having an affair with Trump in a statement. Daniels said later that the statement was worded that way because of a nondisclosure agreement and that she signed the statement because she felt like she had no choice.
April 2018
The FBI executed a search warrant on Cohen.
August 2018
Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court that month, admitting to making illegal campaign contributions to support Trump’s 2016 election, including his payment to Daniels.
March 2021
The Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation into the hush-money deals involving Trump.
March 2023
Trump is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records stemming from Daniels’ hush-money deal.
May 2024
Daniels and Trump meet again at a lower Manhattan courtroom in his criminal trial.
