Former President Donald Trump’s subpoena to NBCUniversal for material related to a documentary about Stormy Daniels was blocked by the judge overseeing his upcoming criminal trial. Justice Juan Merchan deemed Trump’s claim that Daniels and NBC conspired to release the film close to the trial to damage him as unsupported. The judge described Trump’s subpoena as a “fishing expedition” and found no basis for the request.
The criminal trial, set for April 15, accuses Trump of covering up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s payment to Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006. Trump, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has denied any such encounter and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. The documentary, titled “Stormy,” was released on NBC’s streaming service Peacock on March 18.
The trial was initially scheduled to start on March 25 but was delayed by three weeks after Trump alleged that prosecutors were withholding evidence related to Cohen from him. The judge found this concern to be meritless. Merchan’s order, issued on Friday, stated that Trump subpoenaed NBC on March 11 for documents related to the trial’s premiere date and any compensation to Daniels. NBC requested Merchan to block the subpoena on March 20, asserting that Daniels had no authority to approve the documentary’s content or release timing.
Trump is also facing three other criminal indictments, none of which have firm trial dates. The hush money case in New York state court in Manhattan could potentially be the only trial to occur before his expected rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in the upcoming election on Nov. 5. The other cases pertain to Trump’s attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden and his handling of government documents after leaving office in 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of these cases.
Neither Trump’s legal team nor NBCUniversal immediately responded to requests for comment on the judge’s decision to block the subpoena. The ongoing legal battles continue to cast a shadow over Trump’s potential political future and his ongoing feud with Daniels, as well as his attempts to navigate the legal consequences of his time in office. The outcome of these trials will likely have a significant impact on Trump’s political aspirations and legal standing.
