In Australian politics, an affair with a staffer will cost you the leadership of your party. In the US, you can allegedly have an affair… with a porn star… which leads to an FBI raid… amidst speculation that you colluded with Russia… and still lead the country.

It’s been a confusing, messy, scandalous past few months for Donald Trump and it’s only going to get worse. Some speculate that he may not even make it to the end of his term in 2020.

Here’s what’s going down with with the President of the United States right now.

Wait, Trump Had An Affair With A Porn Star?

Yep. Probably.

Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) is a successful adult actress, writer and director. She also allegedly had sex with Trump back in 2006 — a claim that blew up US front pages in early March.

In a tell-all 60 Minutes interview a few weeks after the alleged affair made headlines, Daniels gave away some incredible details about their tryst: for instance, she says she spanked the future president of the United States with a magazine that had his face on it.

She also claimed that Trump thought Daniels was like his daughter:

“He was like, ‘Wow you are special. You remind me of my daughter… you’re smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you.'”

This alleged affair happened right after Melania Trump had just given birth to the Trump’s youngest child, Barron. But the political opposition to Trump hasn’t really bothered to attack him with claims he cheated on his wife. It’s been shown time and time again that Trump’s fanbase is immune to criticisms that Trump is not a traditional family man.

What is getting US politicians and media up in arms, though, is what happened after the alleged affair.

Stormy Daniels, Two Lawsuits And A Whole Lot Of Money

In 2011, Daniels wanted to sell her story to a gossip magazine. But before the story was published, she claims she was threatened and intimidated.

“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter,” Daniels told 60 Minutes. “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mum.’ And then he was gone.”

Then, one month before the 2016 presidential election, Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, (remember his name, he’s important) paid Daniels $USD130,000 ($168,000). He’s admitted to this, but won’t say why he did it.

Trump told media last week that he had no idea that the money was paid, and Cohen has backed this up, saying that he paid the money out of his own pocket.

And now Trump and Daniels are both suing each other.

Cohen is suing Daniels because he says she broke the non-disclosure deal that came along with the $130,000. (Why would Trump’s lawyer get Daniels to sign an NDA if she and Trump had never slept together? Hmm.)

Daniels hit back with a lawsuit of her own, claiming Trump never even signed the agreement, so it isn’t valid. Trump said last week that he didn’t know anything about the payment, which means he couldn’t possibly have signed the non-disclosure agreement everyone’s talking about.

Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is backing himself real hard:

We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath. #searchforthetruth #basta

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 5, 2018

This Is All A Little Crazy. But Why Does Any Of It Matter?

Because last night the FBI got involved. This is where Trump’s lawyer, Cohen, becomes a key player: the FBI stormed his office and hotel room on Monday.

According to the New York Times, they took everything from business records to documents that regard “payments to a pornographic film actress”.

The NYT‘s sources say that Cohen is the focus of an investigation into bank fraud, and the Daniels payment will be analysed as part of that investigation.

Trump called the FBI raid “disgraceful”, and repeated a line he’s reverted to frequently over these past few weeks: that it’s all just part of a “witch hunt” against him.

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

Does This Relate To That Special Prosecution Thingo?

Yeah.

In fact, the FBI raid only happened because some government prosecutors were handed information by Robert Mueller.

Mueller, a former FBI director himself, is heading up the special counsel investigation into Trump. The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether there were any links between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, allegations that began during the 2016 election.

The Daniels drama doesn’t specifically relate to the special counsel, but it does show that things are heating up: Mueller is amassing more and more information, sources and leads in his investigation into Trump’s conduct.

There’s speculation that Mueller may place charges against key figures from the Trump campaign — or even go after the big man himself.

There’s still no ‘smoking gun’ that shows that Trump colluded directly with the Russian government. But watch this space — because between Trump being sued and Mueller handing out criminal charges like candy, things could get even more exciting really quickly.

And you thought our little Barnaby Joyce scandal was peak political theatre.