The judge in Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush-money case has squashed the former president’s bid to subpoena NBCUniversal over a Stormy Daniels documentary, calling it “the very definition of a fishing expedition.”
In late March, Trump subpoenaed NBCUniversal for information on a documentary about one of the trial’s key witnesses, adult film star Stormy Daniels, who Trump is accused of having paid-off through his former attorney Michael Cohen.
Trump’s team had hoped to demonstrate collusion between Daniels and the media company about the Stormy documentary release date, which they contended was purposefully slotted in proximity to the trial’s start date.
NBCUniversal filed a motion to nix the subpoena, which was granted by Judge Juan Merchan on Friday.
Judge Merchan said the subpoena was “too broad,” and needed to seek specific statements, as opposed to requesting all documents related to the project. Even if the Trump team’s subpoena had been more specific, Merchan wrote, granting unfettered access to materials owned by a media company would still violate civil rights law.
“Because Defendant’s claims are purely speculative and unsupported, his subpoena and the demands therein are the very definition of a fishing expedition,” the judge wrote.
Judge Merchan also cited a vice president at NBCUniversal, Erica Forsadt, who said that Daniels was not provided the “right to approve the content of the Documentary or the timing of its release.”
On Wednesday, Judge Merchan denied Donald Trump’s last-minute effort to delay his hush-money trial until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on his presidential immunity claim in a separate case.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. His trial is set to start April 15.
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