From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is a daily.

Today, prosecutors in Manhattan are pursuing what many believe may be the best and last chance

to hold Donald Trump legally accountable for his conduct as a businessman.

I spoke with my colleagues Ben Protess about the story behind the case and Michael Rothfeld

about the Trump loyalist whom prosecutors need to cooperate.

It's Tuesday, July 13th.

Then because Donald Trump is no longer present, I think it's safe to say that we all follow the legal

and investigatory mechanizations around him a little less closely, maybe not you, because this is your beat.

But for the rest of us lay people, this is all feeling pretty distant.

But then all of a sudden, there's this indictment a few weeks ago of the company that bears his name, the Trump organization.

And I wonder what is the story behind that case?

Do you remember Stormy Daniels?

Stormy!

Stephanie Clippet, a porn star who goes by the stage named Stormy Daniels.

Said she and Donald Trump had sex once in 2006.

He's like, wow, you are special. You remind me of my daughter.

After Trump won the Republican nomination, Daniels says Cohen reached out with the now infamous $130,000 offer,

which came with a non-disclosure agreement.

She's the adult film star who said she had an affair with Donald Trump and she threatened to tell her story on the eve of the presidential election.

And so Trump's fixer, Michael Cohen, at the time, pays her $130,000 to keep quiet and essentially she'll have that story.

Right. So that payment drew the attention of federal investigators in Manhattan who were already scrutinizing Cohen.

And they conclude that this payment was potentially an illegal campaign violation.

...