<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>In July 2006, real estate tycoon and reality television star Donald Trump met an adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Exactly what happened next is in dispute but it appears likely to culminate this week in the first ever criminal indictment of a former president of the United States.</div><div><br></div><div>These are the events leading up to the politically explosive case and Daniels' role in it:</div><div>- Lake Tahoe -</div><div><br></div><div>In her 2018 tell-all book "Full Disclosure," Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, recounts her fateful encounter with Trump at the Nevada golf resort on the shores of Lake Tahoe.</div><div><br></div><div>A picture taken at the time shows them posing together at a porn studio booth where Daniels was working as a "greeter."</div><div><br></div><div>Trump is wearing a red hat, yellow polo shirt and khaki pants. The voluptuous Daniels is standing next to him in a tight-fitting black top that exposes her midriff.</div><div><br></div><div>Daniels was 27 at the time and Trump 60. His third wife, Melania, had given birth to their son Barron about four months earlier.</div><div><br></div><div>In her book, Daniels said one of Trump's bodyguards invited her to have dinner with "The Apprentice" star in his penthouse.</div><div><br></div><div>They proceeded to have what "may have been the least impressive sex I'd ever had," she writes in an account that also includes an unflattering description of Trump's anatomy.</div><div><br></div><div>Trump has denied they ever had sex and has accused Daniels of "extortion" and a "total con job."</div><div><br></div><div>Daniels said she remained in touch with Trump over the next year in the hope he would get her on his reality television show but it never happened.</div><div><br></div><div>- Hush money payment -</div><div><br></div><div>Fast forward to 2016 and Trump is the Republican presidential nominee.</div><div><br></div><div>The National Enquirer, a tabloid newspaper owned by a Trump ally, discovers that Daniels is seeking bidders for her potentially politically damaging story about her relationship with Trump.</div><div><br></div><div>The tabloid put her in touch with Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer and fixer nicknamed "The Pitbull."</div><div><br></div><div>Cohen, who has since turned against Trump, has acknowledged arranging a $130,000 "hush money" payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about the 2006 tryst.</div><div><br></div><div>Daniels and Trump -- under the respective pseudonyms Peggy Peterson and David Dennison -- were the parties to a non-disclosure agreement prepared by Cohen that has emerged in court filings.</div><div><br></div><div>The payment was revealed by The Wall Street Journal in January 2018 and forms the basis for the charges Trump may be facing this week in New York.</div><div><br></div><div>Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claims that he is the victim of a political "witch hunt" by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, intended to derail his 2024 White House campaign.</div><div><br></div><div>Cohen, who has served time in prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations, and Daniels were both interviewed by prosecutors this month in connection with the case.</div><div><br></div><div>- Notoriety -</div><div>Since coming forward, Daniels has been cashing in on her notoriety while battling Trump in and out of court and on social media.</div><div><br></div><div>She suggestively refers to Trump on her Twitter feed as "Tiny" while he throws various insults her way, including calling her "Horseface."</div><div><br></div><div>Along with her book, Daniels has made appearances at strip clubs around the country billed as the "Make America Horny Again" tour.</div><div><br></div><div>Her one-time high-profile lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is currently serving jail time for stealing money from Daniels.</div><div><br></div><div>Avenatti tricked literary agents into sending $300,000 of an $800,000 advance she received for her book into a bank account he controlled, without her knowledge.</div><div><br></div><div>Avenatti spent the money on personal and professional expenses including plane tickets, restaurants and the lease of a Ferrari, according to prosecutors. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>