Stormy Daniels timeline: From first reports of hush money to Cohen's confession

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump: Giuliani 'will get his facts straight' President Trump defended new lawyer Rudy Giuliani Friday saying he'll "get his facts straight." Talking to reporters at the White House, he also says a time and place has been set for his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (May 4)

WASHINGTON — President Trump and his team have given contradictory accounts of his involvement in a $130,000 payoff to porn actress Stormy Daniels over the past few months, culminating in an extraordinary admission that Trump was aware of the payment and reimbursed his lawyer for it.

A recap of the evolving denials, admissions and explanations that the president, his campaign, the White House and his lawyers have given about the affair, the payoff, and its legal implications:

Nov. 4, 2016: 'Absolutely, unequivocally' untrue

Four days before the 2016 election, the Wall Street Journal reported that Daniels had abruptly canceled a planned appearance on ABC's Good Morning America to allege that she had an affair with Trump a decade before. The story also outlined the effort to silence another accuser by having the National Enquirer pay for the rights to her story in what's been described as a "catch and kill" strategy.

“We have no knowledge of any of this,” campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the Journal at the time. She said the women's claims were “totally untrue" and “absolutely, unequivocally” false.

Jan. 12, 2018: 'Old, recycled reports'

The Wall Street Journal resurfaced the issue in January, reporting details of the now-confirmed $130,000 payment to Daniels — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford —through Trump's private attorney, Michael Cohen.

“These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election," an unnamed White House official told the Journal.

Cohen also issued a statement denying the affair but not addressing the payment.

“President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels," Cohen said. "This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client. You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”

Jan. 18: 'Asked and answered'



Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, deputy press secretary Raj Shah gave the first on-the-record response from the White House.

“This allegation was asked and answered during the campaign, and I’ll point you to those comments,” he said. Pressed further, he said, “Like I said, this matter was asked and answered during the campaign, and anything else could be directed to Michael Cohen.”

March 7: Case 'won in arbitration'

In attempting to dismiss the allegations as old news, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders ended up revealing new news: That there was an arbitration proceeding to resolve the dispute over the non-disclosure agreement.

"Look, the president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true," she said. "This case has already been won in arbitration. And anything beyond that, I would refer you to the president’s outside counsel."

March 9: Cohen admits payment

Responding to a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that the payoff could violate campaign finance laws, Cohen told ABC News he made the payment — but with his own personal funds.

"The funds were taken from my home-equity line and transferred internally to my LLC account in the same bank," Cohen said.

March 26: Trump 'has consistently denied' claims

Following Daniels' interview on 60 Minutes, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah gave a carefully crafted answer on March 26 — saying only that the White House didn't do anything wrong and denying the "underlying" claims.

"I can speak for only the White House, and I can say, categorically, and obviously, the White House didn’t engage in any wrongdoing," he said. "The campaign or Mr. Cohen can address anything with respect to their actions. With respect to that interview, I will say the president strongly, clearly, and has consistently denied these underlying claims. And the only person who’s been inconsistent is the one making the claims."

April 5: The Air Force One exchange

Returning from an event at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia on April 5, Trump made his first comments on the "60 Minutes" interview in a brief exchange with reporters.

Reporter: "Mr. President, did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?"

Trump: "No. No. What else?"

Reporter: "Then why did Michael Cohen make those if there was no truth to her allegations?"

Trump: "Well, you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. And you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen."

Reporter: " Do you know where he got the money to make that payment?"

Trump: "No, I don’t know. No."

Wednesday: 'The president repaid it'

Rudy Giuliani, recently hired to lead the president's legal team, reveals to Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity — also a client of Cohen's — that Trump repaid Cohen for the hush-money payment:

Giuliani: "That money was not campaign money. Sorry, I’m giving you a fact now that you don’t know. It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation."

Hannity: "They funneled it through a law firm."

Giuliani: "They funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it".

Hannity: "Oh. I didn’t know that. He did?"

Giuliani: "Yep.... Everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning. I wasn’t. I knew how much money Donald Trump put into that campaign, and I said, “$130,000? He could do a couple of checks for $130,000.

More: Trump could face more legal trouble after confirming he repaid Michael Cohen, watchdogs say

"When I heard of Cohen’s retainer for $130,000, he was doing no work for the president. I said, 'Well, that’s how he’s repaying it, with a little profit and a little margin for paying taxes for Michael.'"

Thursday: 'False and extortionist allegations'

The morning after Giuliani's revelation, Trump gave a three-part, legalistic explanation on Twitter.

"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 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, despite already 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."

Friday: Giuliani will 'get his facts straight'

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on his way to Dallas Friday, Trump disavowed Giuliani's statements — but did not say what exactly Giuliani said that was wrong. He said Giuliani would put out a statement correcting the record.

Reporter: "Mr. President, how's Rudy doing?"

Trump: "I tell you what — Rudy is a great guy, but he just started a day ago. [He started two weeks ago.] But he really has his heart into it. He's working hard. He's learning the subject matter. And he's going to be issuing a statement too. But he is a great guy. He knows it's a witch hunt. That's what he knows. He's seen a lot of them. And he said he's never seen anything so horrible. …

"So Rudy knows it's a witch hunt. He started yesterday. He'll get his facts straight. He's a great guy. But what he does is he feels it's a very bad thing for our country, and he happens to be right."

Reporter: "When did you find out what the retainer was being spent on?"

Trump: "Well, you're going to find out, because we're going to give a full list. And people know. And virtually everything said has been said incorrectly, and it's been said wrong, or it's been covered wrong by the press — just like NBC and ABC yesterday covered the story wrong. …

"It's actually very simple. But there has been a lot of misinformation, really. People wanting to say — and I say, you know what, learn before you speak. It's a lot easier."

"I'll tell you what: Rudy is a great guy, but he just started a day ago," Trump said. (He actually started two weeks ago.) "He's working hard. He's learning the subject matter. And he's going to be issuing a statement, too."

More: Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani try to again explain Stormy Daniels payment

Friday: Giuliani tries to 'clarify' statements

Later Friday, Giuliani released a statement. "This is intended to clarify the views I expressed over the past few days," it began.

"First: There is no campaign violation. The payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the president’s family. It would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not.

"Second: My references to timing were not describing my understanding of the president’s knowledge, but instead, my understanding of these matters.

"Third: It is undisputed that the president’s dismissal of (former FBI Director James Comey) – an inferior executive officer – was clearly within his Article II power. Recent revelations about former Director Comey further confirm the wisdom of the president’s decision, which was plainly in the best interests of our nation."

August 21: Cohen pleads guilty

Cohen told a federal court on that he had paid off two women to silence them before the 2016 election at Trump’s "direction," and admitted that the payments were illegal.

Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges, including allegations that the payments violated campaign finance laws and unrelated charges that he lied to banks to obtain improper loans and lied to the government to avoid paying taxes.

Prosecutors said Cohen arranged a separate payment to Daniels, referred to as Woman-2, to prevent her from speaking to the press.

The 51-year-old Cohen said in court that he made the payments in coordination with Trump, who wasn't named, to influence the election.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said Cohen worked to silence the women whose stories would be "detrimental to the 2016 campaign." Cohen then sought reimbursement for the payments in 2017 by writing invoices for legal services to Trump's company.

August 22: Trump says he paid with own money

Trump told the Fox News Channel that Michael Cohen's payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump were not illegal because they "came from me" and not his campaign.

"They weren’t taken out of campaign finance, that’s the big thing," Trump said during an interview on FOX & Friends that will air Thursday morning. "That’s a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign? They didn’t come out of the campaign; they came from me."