Tracing the Trail of Hush-Money Deals That Led to Trump’s Prosecution

Lawyers defending Mr. Trump, who denies he had sex with her, will likely argue that his employees were responsible for the paper trail that falsely described the reimbursement of the hush money as legal fees for Mr. Cohen. But prosecutors for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, will try to show that the payment was part of a larger effort to suppress negative news about Mr. Trump to sway the election. That scheme, they will contend, resulted in not just the hush-money payment at the center of the trial,...