Trump: "I never directed him to do anything wrong. Whatever he did, he did on his own." — interview Thursday with Fox News.

Trump: "I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law... many campaign finance lawyers have strongly stated that I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance." — tweets Thursday.

Trump: "So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama's — but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer's liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced." — tweets Dec. 10.

The facts: Whatever the truth, his account is evolving. Trump's description of the payments as a "simple private transaction" — which he couples with his insistence that "did nothing wrong" with respect to campaign finance laws — is not how he explained it just a few months ago.

In April, Trump issued a blanket denial that he knew anything about reports of $130,000 in hush-money paid to Daniels, saying reporters would "have to ask Michael Cohen." A month later, he then acknowledged the payments as a "private contract." Trump is now saying if something criminal happened, it would be solely Cohen's fault as his former attorney.

Both Cohen and American Media Inc., the company that owns the National Enquirer tabloid, say they made hush-money payments to Daniels and McDougal for the purpose of helping Trump's 2016 White House bid, a campaign finance violation. Both women alleged they had extramarital affairs with Trump, which the White House denies. Federal prosecutors say the payments were made at Trump's direction.

For the payments themselves to be a crime rather than a civil infraction, prosecutors would need to show that Trump knew that what he was doing was wrong when he directed Cohen to pay the women and that he did so with the goal of benefiting his campaign.

It's unclear what federal prosecutors in New York will decide to do if they conclude that there is evidence that Trump himself committed a crime. In the meantime, Trump's changing version of the truth is running head-on into facts agreed to by prosecutors.