Politics - News Analysis

Desperate Trump Is Trying to Block Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal From Testifying at His NY Hush Money Trial

We know that Donald Trump is an expert at finagling his way out of things. He’s been doing this for years and it’s probably one of the reasons why his company, The Trump Organization avoided legal problems for years until New York Attorney General Letitia James brought it to justice, meaning he’ll have to fork over more than $355 million. In this instance, his finagling finally caught up with him.

But now, with the aid of his lawyers, Trump is doing it again. This time Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche, filed a 47-page motion in the hopes of blocking adult film actress Stormy Daniels, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer. Trump’s reimbursements to Cohen are the crucial part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the former president, who continues to deny the affairs and has pleaded not guilty to his 34 charges of falsifying business records, The Hill reports.

The motion filed by Blanche attacks the credibility of the witnesses, portraying Cohen as a “liar” and casting Daniels as someone who would offer “false” and “salacious” testimony.

Trump’s lawyers have also attacked the way that prosecutors have characterized the hush-money payments as a “catch-and-kill” scheme to prevent negative evidence about Trump leaking out in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Unsurprisingly, this means his lawyers have also asked to block the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape, where Trump’s nastiest misogyny spilled out (that was disgusting, wasn’t it?). The attorneys are also seeking to block evidence from Trump’s allies at the time of his alleged crime, including Rudy Giuliani and Allen Weisselberg, the ex-chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.

Donald Trump with Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, in a 2006 photo uploaded to her Myspace.com account.

The motion, filed Monday, came shortly after prosecutors filed their own motion to block Trump from introducing certain testimony during the trial, including claims that he’s being prosecuted selectively and filings from the Justice Department that would cast doubt on Cohen’s credibility.

Trump’s attorney highlighted testimony from Cohen in Trump’s civil fraud trial, which ended in January, as the reason he should be excluded from the upcoming trial. During the fraud trial, Cohen testified that he and Weisselberg “reverse-engineered” Trump’s assets to reflect a number that the former president liked, but when he was cross-examined, Cohen backtracked.

“He recently committed perjury, on the stand and under oath, at a civil trial involving President Trump. If his public statements are any indication, he plans to do so again at this criminal trial. The Court should preclude Cohen’s testimony in order to protect the integrity of this Court and the process of justice,” the motion states.

Karen McDougal with Donald Trump in a picture she posted online in September 2015

The ex-president’s hush-money trial is set to begin in New York on March 25, and this one is the first criminal trial he’ll face, and he’ll mark this distinction by being the only criminal trial any former president has ever faced.

Hopefully, when Trump’s fate is dealt with at the end of this trial, it will be the last time we have to hear about the hush-money, the Access Hollywood tape, and every other vile thing Trump has done before, during, and after his presidency.

Won’t that be a huge relief?

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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