The investigation by the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace into Donald J. Trump and his household actual property enterprise started greater than three years in the past. Listed here are some key moments:
Aug. 21, 2018
Michael D. Cohen says he organized hush cash funds for the president.
Mr. Cohen, beforehand a private lawyer and fixer for Mr. Trump, pleaded responsible to federal crimes and informed a court docket that Mr. Trump directed him to rearrange hush cash funds to 2 girls. The funds have been made through the 2016 marketing campaign to maintain the ladies from talking publicly about affairs they mentioned that they had with Mr. Trump.
Quickly after Mr. Cohen’s admission, the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace opened an investigation to look at if the funds broke any New York State legal guidelines. The workplace quickly paused on the request of federal prosecutors, who have been nonetheless trying into the identical conduct.
August 2019
The district lawyer’s workplace subpoenas the Trump Group.
After federal prosecutors mentioned that that they had “successfully concluded” their investigation, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district lawyer on the time, revived his personal inquiry. Late within the month, prosecutors in his workplace issued a subpoena to the Trump Group and one other subpoena to Mr. Trump’s accounting agency, demanding eight years of Mr. Trump’s private and company tax returns.
Sept. 19, 2019
Mr. Trump’s attorneys sue to guard his tax returns, arguing {that a} sitting president couldn’t be criminally investigated.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court docket in Manhattan, led to a prolonged delay.
July 9, 2020
Mr. Vance wins his first key victory on the U.S. Supreme Court docket.
After appellate judges dominated towards Mr. Trump, the lawsuit discovered its approach to the Supreme Court docket, the place the justices dominated that the presidency didn’t defend Mr. Trump from felony inquiries and that he had no absolute proper to dam the discharge of his tax returns.
The ruling left Mr. Trump with the chance to lift completely different objections to Mr. Vance’s subpoena. Increase them he did.
Aug. 3, 2020
A submitting hints at a brand new focus of the inquiry.
A court docket submitting from the district lawyer’s workplace urged that it had been investigating Mr. Trump and his enterprise for potential financial institution and insurance coverage fraud — a far broader scope than simply the hush cash funds.
The submitting cited a newspaper report that the president might need illegally inflated the worth of his properties.
A couple of month later, Mr. Trump tried a brand new strategy to struggle the subpoena for his tax returns, arguing in court docket that the request was politically motivated and represented an “illegal fishing expedition.”
AUTUMN 2020
The investigation intensifies.
Prosecutors interviewed workers of the primary financial institution and insurance coverage firm that serve Mr. Trump and issued a number of new subpoenas.
Feb. 22, 2021
The Supreme Court docket denies Mr. Trump’s last bid to dam the discharge of his returns.
The temporary unsigned order was a decisive defeat for Mr. Trump and a turning level in Mr. Vance’s investigation.
Simply hours later, eight years of economic data have been handed over to Mr. Vance’s workplace.
March 1, 2021
The investigation’s focus turns to a prime government.
Within the spring, Mr. Vance’s prosecutors set their sights on Allen H. Weisselberg, the Trump Group’s long-serving chief monetary officer, whom they hoped to strain into cooperating with their investigation.
The prosecutors have been significantly occupied with whether or not the Trump Group handed out beneficial advantages to Mr. Weisselberg as a type of untaxed compensation.
July 1, 2021
The Trump Group is charged with working a 15-year tax scheme.
When Mr. Weisselberg refused to activate his boss, prosecutors introduced fees towards him and Mr. Trump’s firm, saying that the corporate helped its executives evade taxes by compensating them with advantages comparable to free vehicles and residences that have been hidden from the authorities.
Fall 2021
Prosecutors attain a crucial part of the investigation.
Investigators issued new subpoenas for details about Mr. Trump’s properties and signaled that that they had returned to the concentrate on the previous president’s statements concerning the worth of his properties.
By December, Mr. Vance licensed his prosecutors to start presenting proof about Mr. Trump to a grand jury, a course of that might have been more likely to culminate in an indictment of the previous president.
JAN. 1, 2022
A brand new Manhattan district lawyer takes workplace.
Mr. Vance left workplace, and his successor, Alvin L. Bragg, took over the case.
Mr. Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, retained two of the investigation’s leaders, Mark F. Pomerantz, an skilled former federal prosecutor and white-collar protection lawyer, and Carey Dunne, Mr. Vance’s normal counsel.
Feb. 23, 2022
Two prosecutors resign, leaving the investigation’s future doubtful.
After Mr. Bragg expressed reservations concerning the case, Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne suspended the presentation of proof about Mr. Trump to a grand jury. A month later, they resigned, prompting a public uproar over Mr. Bragg’s choice to not proceed with an indictment.
In his resignation letter, which was later obtained by The New York Occasions, Mr. Pomerantz mentioned that Mr. Trump had been responsible of quite a few felonies.
April 29, 2022
A grand jury expires.
The grand jury that had been listening to proof about Mr. Trump expired towards the tip of April. Although Mr. Bragg’s investigation continued, indicators emerged that the previous president wouldn’t be charged in Manhattan within the foreseeable future.
Aug. 18, 2022
Allen Weisselberg pleads responsible and agrees to testify towards the Trump Group.
Although the chief monetary officer declined to activate Mr. Trump himself, he agreed to testify on the October trial towards the corporate that he served for practically half a century.
Oct. 24, 2022
Jury choice begins, marking the official starting of the trial.
Attorneys for the district lawyer’s workplace and the Trump Group gathered in a Manhattan courtroom to start interviewing jurors.