Trump slammed as he seeks to block Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen from testifying at NY hush-money case

WASHINGTON, DC: In Donald Trump's upcoming first criminal trial, set to start in March 2024, the former president's legal team in the hush-money case filed a request on Monday asking a New York court to prevent key witnesses from giving testimony.

Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche sought to block the testimony of Michael Cohen, the former fixer of Trump, along with two women, Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels. They were allegedly paid to keep silent about purported relationships with Trump, according to The Hill.

Trump has denied the affairs and pleaded not guilty

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is primarily concentrating the prosecution against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying company records and denies the alleged relationships.

The focal point of the case is the payments made by Trump to Cohen.

In the 47-page document submitted by Trump's attorneys, various accusations are made against the reliability of the witnesses. Cohen is described as a "liar," while implications suggest that Daniels may offer "false" and "salacious" evidence.

Trump's legal team contested the prosecutors' depiction of the hush money payments as a "catch-and-kill" operation aimed at suppressing unfavorable information about Trump prior to the 2016 presidential election.

Trump's attorneys also sought to block the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood video, where Trump made derogatory remarks about women on a hot mic, as well as testimony from close associates at the time of the alleged offense, including Rudy Giuliani and former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg.

The document, which contained allegations asserting that Trump is the target of a biased prosecution and included Justice Department documents that aimed to challenge Cohen's reliability, was filed shortly after prosecutors submitted their motion to prohibit Trump from presenting specific testimony during the trial.

According to Blanche, the state intended to undermine Trump's 2024 presidential candidacy with a "listless 'zombie' case" by using "improper" and "inadmissible" evidence.

The defense lawyer cited Cohen's testimony in the recently concluded civil fraud trial as grounds for preventing him from testifying in the future.

In the fraud trial, Cohen asserted that he and Weisselberg "reverse-engineered" Trump's assets to reach a figure acceptable to the former president. However, during cross-examination, he retracted this statement.

Trump’s lawyers wrote, "Michael Cohen is a liar. He recently committed perjury, on the stand and under oath, at a civil trial involving President Trump."

The lawyers also added, "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."

Internet slammed Donald Trump for trying to block witnesses from testifying

Trump's effort to prevent Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen from testifying at the New York hush money trial received significant backlash online, with many individuals criticizing the former President for his actions.

A user on X mentioned, "He’s scared. This is hilarious," while one added, "I’m old enough to remember DJT denying that he even knew who Stormy was and not knowing anything about the hush money payments. He has a long history of falsely denying any knowledge of the crimes he’s involved with."

One person also stated, "Double jeopardy," whereas another added, "How can you block the main victim in a trial?"

A person also said, "Delaying static. [sic] They will get to testify, the judge will probably instruct jury of [sic] his previous issues. NO, im not a lawyer but watch them on tv." [sic] 

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