The lawyers for Donald Trump say they tried to hand Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived at a bar in Brooklyn last month for an event. But the porn star, who is supposed to be a witness in the criminal trial of the former president, refused to take it and walked away.
A process server for Trump's lawyers said he went up to Daniels with papers asking for information about a new documentary about her life and her relationship with Trump, but she told him to "leave them at her feet," according to a court filing made public Wednesday.
"I told her who she was and what the papers were," process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote. "She did not look at me and kept walking inside the venue. A blank look was on her face."
The meeting before a movie showing of "Stormy" at the 3 Dollar Bill bar started a fight between Trump's lawyers and Daniels' lawyer that has been going on for a month and continued this week when the likely Republican nominee's criminal trial started in Manhattan.
Lawyers for Trump are asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to make Daniels follow the request. They put a picture in their file that they said DellaPorte took of Daniels as she walked away.
Clark Brewster, Daniels' lawyer, says they never got the papers. He said that the requests were like a "unwarranted fishing expedition" that had nothing to do with Trump's trial.
"The process, which started on the day of the trial, seems designed to harass and/or scare a lay witness," Brewster wrote to Merchan on April 9. The Associated Press sent Brewster a message asking for comment, but he did not answer right away.
Trump has four criminal cases. The hush money case is the first one to go to trial. There are now seven members sitting down. Jury picking will start up again on Thursday.
Daniels is going to talk about the $130,000 settlement she got from Michael Cohen, one of Trump's lawyers at the time, in 2016 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.
Cohen later got that payment back from Trump's company. People say that Trump lied about that payment and other things he did during the 2016 campaign to hide bad news.
Last year, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of illegal business record fraud. He says that he did not have a physical contact with Daniels. His lawyers say that the money they paid Cohen for legal fees was legal and should have been recorded properly.
As part of a different document made public on Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney's office said that if Trump decides to appear at the trial, they will question his trustworthiness by asking him about his recent legal problems. The filing took place last month behind closed doors.
A judge recently told Trump to pay a $454 million civil fine because he lied on his financial documents about how much money he had. In a different hearing, the jurors said he should pay $83.3 million for slandering writer E. Jean Carroll after she said he sexually assaulted her.
On Friday, Merchan said he would hold a meeting to decide if that is okay.
In some situations, New York law lets attorneys ask witnesses about past crimes. Trump's lawyers are against it. Trump has said he wants to speak, but he does not have to. He can change his mind at any time.
As for the subpoena argument, it is the latest attempt by Trump's lawyers to get harmful information out about Daniels, who is a key witness for the prosecution.
They want many papers connected to promoting and editing the documentary "Stormy," which looks at Daniels' work in adult movies and her rise to fame after her alleged relationship with Trump became public.
Also, Daniels is being asked to say how much, if anything, she was paid for the movie.
Trump's lawyers say that the film's premiere on NBC's Peacock streaming service last month—a week before the trial was supposed to begin—brought about more bad press about him and made it harder for him to get a fair trial.
Trump's lawyers say in documents made public on Wednesday that Daniels is "clearly seeking to promote her brand and make money based on her status as a witness."
The subpoena also asks Daniels to talk to Cohen and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with Trump, and other people who are likely to testify in the case. It also asks for any messages that Daniels and Carroll may have sent to each other.
Trump tried to subpoena NBC Universal for information about the program earlier this month, but Merchan stopped him. In what he wrote, the order and its requests "are the very definition of a fishing expedition."
A process server for Trump's lawyers said he went up to Daniels with papers asking for information about a new documentary about her life and her relationship with Trump, but she told him to "leave them at her feet," according to a court filing made public Wednesday.
"I told her who she was and what the papers were," process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote. "She did not look at me and kept walking inside the venue. A blank look was on her face."
The meeting before a movie showing of "Stormy" at the 3 Dollar Bill bar started a fight between Trump's lawyers and Daniels' lawyer that has been going on for a month and continued this week when the likely Republican nominee's criminal trial started in Manhattan.
Lawyers for Trump are asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to make Daniels follow the request. They put a picture in their file that they said DellaPorte took of Daniels as she walked away.
Clark Brewster, Daniels' lawyer, says they never got the papers. He said that the requests were like a "unwarranted fishing expedition" that had nothing to do with Trump's trial.
"The process, which started on the day of the trial, seems designed to harass and/or scare a lay witness," Brewster wrote to Merchan on April 9. The Associated Press sent Brewster a message asking for comment, but he did not answer right away.
Trump has four criminal cases. The hush money case is the first one to go to trial. There are now seven members sitting down. Jury picking will start up again on Thursday.
Daniels is going to talk about the $130,000 settlement she got from Michael Cohen, one of Trump's lawyers at the time, in 2016 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.
Cohen later got that payment back from Trump's company. People say that Trump lied about that payment and other things he did during the 2016 campaign to hide bad news.
Last year, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of illegal business record fraud. He says that he did not have a physical contact with Daniels. His lawyers say that the money they paid Cohen for legal fees was legal and should have been recorded properly.
As part of a different document made public on Wednesday, the Manhattan district attorney's office said that if Trump decides to appear at the trial, they will question his trustworthiness by asking him about his recent legal problems. The filing took place last month behind closed doors.
A judge recently told Trump to pay a $454 million civil fine because he lied on his financial documents about how much money he had. In a different hearing, the jurors said he should pay $83.3 million for slandering writer E. Jean Carroll after she said he sexually assaulted her.
On Friday, Merchan said he would hold a meeting to decide if that is okay.
In some situations, New York law lets attorneys ask witnesses about past crimes. Trump's lawyers are against it. Trump has said he wants to speak, but he does not have to. He can change his mind at any time.
As for the subpoena argument, it is the latest attempt by Trump's lawyers to get harmful information out about Daniels, who is a key witness for the prosecution.
They want many papers connected to promoting and editing the documentary "Stormy," which looks at Daniels' work in adult movies and her rise to fame after her alleged relationship with Trump became public.
Also, Daniels is being asked to say how much, if anything, she was paid for the movie.
Trump's lawyers say that the film's premiere on NBC's Peacock streaming service last month—a week before the trial was supposed to begin—brought about more bad press about him and made it harder for him to get a fair trial.
Trump's lawyers say in documents made public on Wednesday that Daniels is "clearly seeking to promote her brand and make money based on her status as a witness."
The subpoena also asks Daniels to talk to Cohen and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who says she had an affair with Trump, and other people who are likely to testify in the case. It also asks for any messages that Daniels and Carroll may have sent to each other.
Trump tried to subpoena NBC Universal for information about the program earlier this month, but Merchan stopped him. In what he wrote, the order and its requests "are the very definition of a fishing expedition."
