NEW YORK (AP) — Donald TrumpThe legal team says it has tried to serve Stormy Daniels a subpoena when she arrived for an event at a Brooklyn bar last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president’s criminal trial, refused to accept it and walked away.
A trial official working for Trump’s lawyers said he approached Daniels with papers demanding information related to a recently released documentary about her life and involvement with Trump, but was forced to leave them “at her feet.” , according to a court filing made public on Wednesday.
“I said she was served when I identified her and explained to her what the documents were,” process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote. “She didn’t recognize me and kept walking around the room without any expression on her face.”
The meeting, ahead of a screening of the “Stormy” movie at the 3 Dollar Bill nightclub, has led to a month-long battle between Trump’s lawyers and Daniels’ lawyer, which continued this week as the criminal trial against the suspected Republican candidate in Manhattan began.
Trump’s lawyers are asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to force Daniels to comply with the subpoena. They included in their files a photo they said DellaPorte took of Daniels as she walked away.
Daniels’ attorney Clark Brewster claims they never received the paperwork. He described the requests as an “unjustified fishing expedition” with no relevance to the criminal proceedings against Trump.
“The process – instituted on the eve of trial – appears designed to cause intimidation and/or intimidation of a lay witness,” Brewster wrote in an April 9 letter to Merchan. Brewster did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial. So far, seven jurors have been seated. Jury selection will resume on Thursday.
Daniels is expected to testify about a $130,000 payment she received in 2016 from one of Trump’s lawyers at the time. Michael Cohento avoid speaking publicly about a sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier.
Cohen was later reimbursed by Trump’s company for that payment. Trump is accused of falsifying his company’s records to conceal the nature of that payment, as well as other work he did to bury negative stories during the 2016 campaign.
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying company records. He denies having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal fees and were properly recorded.
In a separate filing made public Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that if Trump chooses to testify at the trial, prosecutors plan to challenge his credibility by questioning him about his recent legal setbacks. The application was filed under seal last month.
Trump was recently ordered to pay a $454 million civil penalty after a trial in which a judge ruled he had lied about his wealth in financial statements. In another trial, a jury said he was liable for $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of sexual assault.
Merchan said he plans to hold a hearing Friday to decide whether that will be allowed.
New York law allows prosecutors to question witnesses about past legal matters under certain circumstances. Trump’s lawyers are against it. Trump has said he wants to testify, but he is not required to do so and he can always change his mind.
As for the dispute over the subpoena, it marks the latest attempt by Trump’s lawyers to extract potentially damaging information about Daniels, a key prosecution witness.
They are demanding a series of documents related to the promotion and editing of the documentary “Stormy,” which examines Daniels’ career in the adult film industry and rise to fame since her alleged involvement with Trump became public.
They also ask Daniels to reveal how much, if anything, she was compensated for the film.
Trump’s lawyers argue that the film’s premiere last month on NBC’s Peacock streaming service — a week before the trial was originally scheduled to begin — fueled negative publicity about Trump, clouding his ability to get a fair trial.
In the documents made public Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers accuse Daniels of “clearly trying to promote her brand and make money based on her status as a witness.”
The subpoena also requires communications between Daniels and other likely witnesses in the trial, including Cohen and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with Trump. It also calls for all communication between Daniels and Carroll.
Earlier this month, Merchan blocked an attempt by Trump to subpoena NBC Universal for information about the documentary. He wrote that a subpoena and its demands are “the definition of a fishing expedition.”
