Donald Trump is trying to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniels and her former lawyer, Michael Cohen, from testifying in his criminal trial on charges stemming from Daniels’ silence payments before the 2016 election.
As a result, this is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to come to trial (the date for the first hearing was set for March 25). New York state prosecutors said the former president falsified business records to cover up Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence about a sexual relationship she claims she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, claims that Michael Cohen has a history of lying and would again fail to tell the truth at trial.
And that Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, would try to use the trial to promote and monetize her story.
“Similar to Cohen, she wants to tell fabricated stories with salacious details of events that she alleges happened almost 20 years ago,” Blanche wrote to Justice.
Trump denies having intimate relations with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty.
Cohen’s lawyer declined to comment. An attorney for Daniels did not respond to a request for comment at first.
