Judge Rejects Trump’s Effort To Block Stormy Daniels & Michael Cohen From Testifying At His Hush Money Trial

On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan ruled against former President Donald Trump‘s legal team’s effort to block former adult film star Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen from testifying in his New York hush money trial.

The trial was set to begin on March 25 but now won’t start until mid-April.

Trump’s hush money case is centered around accusations that he had his then-attorney Cohen make payments to Daniels and Karen McDougal as part of an attempt during his 2016 presidential campaign to bury claims he had affairs.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal business records kept by the Trump Organization to hide the true nature of payments made to Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 and McDougal $150,000.

Falsifying business records is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. However, there is no guarantee that a conviction would eventually result in Trump serving jail time.

On February 25, his attorney, Todd Blanche, sought to block testimony from these three primary witnesses.

The 47-page motion attacks their credibility. It claimed that Cohen already perjured himself, Daniels “intends to offer false, salacious, and unduly prejudicial testimony relating to President Trump,” and that “people clearly seek to recast history and interject the details of McDougal’s alleged affair with President Trump for the sole purpose of inflaming the jury and prejudicing President Trump’s defense.”

Trump’s legal team also hoped to ban the Access Hollywood recording in which he boasts about grabbing women’s genitals without asking for consent. This recording was publicly revealed in the final weeks of the former president’s 2016 presidential campaign.

This legal team stated that the video consists of “inflammatory and unduly prejudicial evidence that has no place at this trial about documents and accounting practices.”

Judge Merchan ruled that tape could be discussed but not played in court.

Prosecutors claim the release of the 2005 footage, followed by many women coming forward to accuse the former president of sexual assault, hastened his attempts to keep negative stories away from the press, leading to one of the hush-money arrangements at the heart of the case.

In March 2023, Trump was indicted in New York City after a months-long investigation into hush money paid to Daniels.

He consistently denied having an affair with her and claimed that the charges had been politically motivated.

Despite his claims, Bragg charged that Trump unlawfully wrote the hush money off as tax-deductible expenses, utilized campaign funds for the payments and falsified business records.

On April 4, Trump was arrested in Manhattan on criminal charges in connection with a hush money payment made to Daniels.

He entered a not-guilty plea to each felony charge during his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.

The former president was not handcuffed or photographed as many thought he would be.