The key figures in Trump’s indictment: Who are Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal?

(Evan Vucci/AP)

As Donald Trump fought his way to victory in the 2016 presidential campaign, key allies tried to smooth his bumpy path by paying off two women who had been thinking of going public with allegations of extramarital encounters with the Republican.

The payoffs, and the way that Mr Trump’s company accounted for one of them, are believed to be at the centre of a grand jury investigation that led to a criminal indictment and could result in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former US president.