New York Judge Denies Trump's Attempt To Block Former Lawyer And Stormy Daniels From Testifying In Hush Money Trial

In a recent development, a New York judge has denied the request of Donald Trump, the former U.S. President, to disallow his ex-attorney, Michael Cohen, and adult film actress Stormy Daniels from testifying in his criminal trial related to a 2016 hush money payment.

What Happened: State Judge Juan Merchan gave the green light for Cohen and Daniels to testify, albeit with some restrictions on Daniels’ testimony, especially concerning a lie detector test she took in 2018, as reported by NBC News on Tuesday.

The case, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accuses Trump of falsifying business records to hide a payment to Cohen, which was meant as reimbursement for $130,000 Cohen paid Daniels in the last days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump’s legal team had argued against allowing Cohen and Daniels to testify, branding them as “liars.” Despite Cohen admitting to lying under oath during Trump's recent civil fraud trial, his testimony was deemed "credible" by the presiding judge.

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Merchan also imposed some restrictions on another witness, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with Trump. The judge ruled that the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape, where Trump can be heard making inappropriate comments about women, need not be introduced into evidence or played for the jury.

However, Merchan dismissed Trump’s request to use a partial “advice of counsel” defense. Trump’s lawyers had intended to argue that their client didn’t believe he was doing anything wrong by reimbursing Cohen, due to his “awareness” that lawyers had been involved in the discussions.

Why It Matters: The trial for Trump's hush money case was initially set to commence on Mar. 25 but was postponed until mid-April after the disclosure of over 70,000 pages of relevant records by the U.S. Attorney's Office. This delay is seen as a strategic move by Trump to buy more time for his legal team.

However, a recent survey revealed that a conviction in the hush-money case against Trump would not influence the vote of 44% of the respondents. Nearly half of the participants believe Trump is guilty in the case, but a conviction would not impact their voting decision.

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