Answering your questions on the Trump indictment

When did this investigation begin?

It began nearly five years ago, when federal prosecutors started probing a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to Daniels, who said she'd had an affair with Trump nearly 10 years earlier. Trump denies the allegation. The so-called hush money was given to Daniels, who was threatening to go public with her story.

So what’s wrong with that, legally speaking?

Nothing, except that the hush money payment, arranged by Cohen after consulting with Trump, was listed internally within the Trump Organization as a legal expense — a description that Manhattan District Attorney Bragg’s prosecutors are expected to charge as illegal under a New York state law prohibiting falsifying business records.

OK, but isn’t that a misdemeanor?

Yes and no. Under New York law, falsifying business records can be considered a misdemeanor — or a felony if it is carried out in connection with a more serious crime.

And what would that be?

Bragg has not said what charges he may or may not be seeking. And grand jury investigations are conducted in secret. But based on public reporting, it appears that Bragg has been investigating whether the payment to Daniels amounted to an illegal campaign contribution, since it was paid out just days before voters headed to the polls to decide the 2016 presidential election. It is not clear, however, whether Bragg would cite it as a violation of federal or state election law.

Read more from Yahoo News' Dylan Stableford and Kate Murphy.

Trump lawyer confirms charges coming

According to the Associated Press, a lawyer for Donald Trump said Thursday he's been told that the former president has been indicted in New York on charges involving payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.

Reports: Trump indicted

The New York Times and CNN have reported that the Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump over hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, making him the first president or former president to face criminal charges. It is unclear what the exact charges are.

Manhattan DA ‘quite likely’ to bring felony charge, says legal expert

A man identifying himself as a Trump supporter demonstrates in front of Trump Tower in New York City on Tuesday. (David "Dee" Delgado/Reuters)

Duncan Levin, a criminal defense attorney and former state prosecutor who represents fake heiress and socialite Anna Sorokin, told Yahoo News' Kate Murphy about the New York statute the prosecution is likely to use and why it’s an unprecedented move.

“That statute is a misdemeanor usually, but it bumped up to a felony in the case where the falsification of business records is being done with the specific intent to commit or conceal another crime,” the legal expert said in an email.

“The intent to defraud element is met by disguising the payment to Stormy Daniels as a ‘retainer’ payment for legal fees. We know that that is not true, and that the payment was disguised, but the question is whether this can be bumped up to a felony charge, and whether there is another crime that this falsification was meant to obscure,” he explained.

“That is what is so novel about what the DA is doing, if the DA in fact is elevating this very simple charge into a felony.”

Levin thinks it’s “quite likely” that the DA will be looking to bring a felony charge against the former president, saying there would be a lot of noise created for an indictment if it were just a misdemeanor.

The timeline of events leading to Trump's possible indictment

Stormy Daniels speaks to reporters as she exits a federal court in New York, April 16, 2018. (Getty Images)

Via Yahoo News partner Business Insider, here's a helpful timeline of Trump and Stormy Daniels' alleged relationship and the $130,000 payment to keep Daniels quiet:

• 2006: Trump, then 60, and Daniels, then 27, meet at a golf tournament and allegedly have sex in his hotel room — months after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron, according to an interview Daniels gave to “60 Minutes” in 2018.

• 2011: Daniels gives InTouch magazine an "explosive full interview" on her alleged affair with Trump.

• 2016: Days before the general election, according to then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen, Cohen wires a $130,000 payment to Daniels’ lawyers in exchange for promising to stay quiet about the alleged 2016 affair.

• 2018: In January, the Wall Street Journal breaks details of the hush money payment. Daniels sues Trump and details their alleged affair and the payout from Cohen.

• 2019: In August, Cohen pleads guilty to multiple crimes and tells federal prosecutors in Manhattan that Trump reimbursed him for hush money payouts disguised as legal fees throughout 2017. Federal prosecutors choose not to go after Trump, who was president at the time.

• 2023: In January, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg convenes a grand jury to consider an indictment against Trump.

Would being indicted help Trump politically?

A group of Trump supporters gather in front of Trump Tower on Tuesday. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

News of the likely former President Donald Trump's indictment has also sparked a parallel debate over what it might mean for his political standing as he attempts to reclaim the presidency, Yahoo News' Mike Bebernes writes.

"Commentators from both ends of the political spectrum argue that being indicted may actually help Trump, who has shown a remarkable ability to weather a long list of personal and legal scandals that probably would have proved fatal to any other politician. They make the case that charges would invigorate Trump’s MAGA base and add significant fuel to his core message that he — and, by extension, his supporters — are being persecuted by powerful forces looking to stifle their political movement.

But skeptics say the case has the potential to do real damage to Trump’s reelection chances. They argue that any anger over the indictment would come from people who are already squarely in his camp, whereas swing voters are more likely to be turned off by yet another Trump scandal."

Read more about the political ramifications of a possible indictment here.

Tucker Carlson jumps to Trump’s defense saying hush money ‘is ordinary’

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Fox host Tucker Carlson and former President Donald Trump at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., in July 2022. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Fox News host Tucker Carlson used his primetime platform to defend former President Donald Trump as he faces indictment over hush money payouts, Yahoo partner the Daily Beast reports.

“Settlements like this, whatever you think of them, are common, both among famous people, celebrities and in corporate America,” he said Tuesday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“In this case, you can believe whatever side you want to believe, but paying people not to talk about things ― hush money ― is ordinary in modern America.”

Fox News has a long history of paying out settlements to make misconduct allegations against the network go away, the Daily Beast noted. Carlson’s prime-time slot became available in 2017 after former host Bill O’Reilly reached settlements totaling around $13 million with five women who accused him of sexual harassment.

How Biden and Democrats are preparing for a possible Trump indictment

President Biden arrives to speak at the White House Conservation in Action Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

If a Manhattan grand jury follows through on indicting former President Donald Trump, Yahoo News partner the Daily Beast points out that President Biden would “become the first presidential candidate whose main rival is challenging him from underneath the dark cloud of a criminal proceeding.”

“Democrats are just beginning to game out how, exactly, they would handle Trump’s criminal proceedings in the context of another campaign against Trump,” the Daily Beast reports.

“For now, there’s agreement that Biden and his White House team should not touch the indictment with a 130,000-foot pole to avoid politicizing the proceedings,” it added. “So far, they haven’t and, broadly, there is very little appetite in any other Democratic circle to do so, either."

Read more about the political calculations here.

Yes, Trump could still run for president in 2024 if indicted

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Davenport, Iowa, on March 13. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Ned Foley, a law professor and director of the election law program at Ohio State University, tells Yahoo News’ Kate Murphy that even if convicted on criminal charges over hush money payouts, former President Donald Trump could still continue his 2024 presidential campaign.

“Eugene Debs, who was the candidate for president in 1920 on the Socialist Party ticket, was in jail, having been prosecuted for his antiwar activities during the First World War. So there is some historical precedent for significant presidential candidates running after having been convicted of a crime,” Foley said.

Read more about Trump's possible campaign under indictment here.