Former President Trump’s legal team requested on Monday that the judge in his hush money case subpoena adult film actress Stormy Daniels’ correspondence with Michael Cohen, the former president’s ex-fixer, any witnesses, and any materials relevant to NBC’s documentary on the actress.
In a letter to Justice Juan Merchan, Trump’s lawyers requested that the judge enforce a subpoena for communications Daniels—wwhose real name is Stephanie Clifford—hhad with Cohen and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom are expected to testify in the hush money trial beginning later this month.
Todd Blanche, the attorney for Trump, argued that the conversations Daniels had with these witnesses, or the evidence of deleted emails, would suggest that the witnesses coordinated their false testimony.
“Communications between Clifford [Daniels] and other women who have sought to monetize sexual assault claims against President Trump are probative of Clifford’s motive and intent to do the same through false trial testimony,” Blanche wrote in the letter.
Trump is also looking into Daniels’ conversations with advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump last year, as well as Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who both testified in Carroll’s civil rape trial against the former president.
Based on comedian Kathy Griffin’s recent claims that she texts Daniels and Carroll “daily,” Trump’s legal team argued that he also has a right to this information.
Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying company documents in connection with a hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels to conceal an alleged affair prior to the 2016 election. He’s pleaded not guilty.
An appeals court on Monday rejected Trump’s latest attempt to postpone the trial and have it held outside of Manhattan, setting the stage for jury selection to begin on April 15.
Trump also wants Merchan to serve a subpoena on Daniels’ emails involving the premiere, production, marketing, and compensation for NBC’s “Stormy” documentary.
The request came just days after Merchan denied the former president access to NBC’s documentary material about the actress.
Merchan stated that the Trump lawyer’s subpoena was “far too broad” and did not meet the legal requirement for requiring NBC Universal to give over papers and other items relating to the documentary “Stormy.”
