The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals

The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump has resurfaced three potential sex scandals that he faced ahead of the 2016 presidential election and buried with the help of allies. Manhattan prosecutors charged him in relation to the one involving the porn star Stormy Daniels; he pleaded not guilty and has said the three stories are untrue.

According to prosecutors, the charges — 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — stem from Mr. Trump’s efforts to conceal a hush-money payment to Ms. Daniels, who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006.

Two other hush-money deals were made as part of a “catch and kill” effort by The National Enquirer. While those episodes are not formally part of the charges Mr. Trump is facing, prosecutors will argue that they were part of the effort to bury negative news about Mr. Trump to influence the election.

Those deals involve Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in 2006-7, and Dino Sajudin, a former doorman who in 2015 tried to sell an apparently false tip about Mr. Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.