Donald Trump's legal team made an unsuccessful attempt to serve a subpoena to Stormy Daniels, a key witness in the former president's criminal trial. The incident occurred as Daniels arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month. A process server working for Trump's lawyers approached Daniels with papers related to a documentary about her life and involvement with Trump, but she refused to accept them and walked away.
The process server stated that he left the documents at Daniels' feet after she ignored him and continued into the venue. Daniels' lawyer claims they never received the paperwork and criticized the subpoena as a harassment tactic with no relevance to the trial.
The hush money case involving Daniels is the first of Trump's four criminal cases to go to trial. Daniels is expected to testify about a $130,000 payment she received in 2016 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she allegedly had with Trump years earlier.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records, denies the encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue that the payments to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, were legitimate legal expenses. Prosecutors plan to challenge Trump's credibility by questioning him about recent legal setbacks if he chooses to testify at the trial.
In a separate filing, Trump's lawyers are demanding documents related to the promotion and editing of the documentary about Daniels. They accuse Daniels of using her status as a witness to promote her brand and make money. The subpoena also requests communications between Daniels and other potential witnesses in the trial.
Earlier this month, a judge blocked an attempt by Trump to subpoena NBC Universal for information related to the documentary, calling it a 'fishing expedition.' The legal battle between Trump's team and Daniels' attorney continues as the trial progresses in Manhattan.
