In a legal skirmish echoing the drama of the courtroom, Donald Trump’s endeavor to subpoena Comcast-owned NBCUniversal for materials concerning a recent documentary featuring the renowned porn star Stormy Daniels was thwarted by a judge overseeing the former U.S. president’s impending criminal trial on April 15.
Justice Juan Merchan decisively rebuffed Trump’s assertions that Daniels and NBC orchestrated the documentary’s release in proximity to the trial to tarnish his reputation, deeming such claims as lacking substantiation. “His subpoena and the demands therein are the very definition of a fishing expedition,” the judge articulated in a resolute court order.
Both Trump’s legal representatives and NBCUniversal remained silent in the immediate aftermath of the ruling.
Trump faces allegations of concealing his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen’s hefty payment of $130,000 to Daniels to maintain her silence prior to the 2016 election regarding an alleged intimate liaison she claims to have had with Trump back in 2006. Denying any such encounter, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The documentary in question, titled “Stormy,” made its debut on NBC’s streaming service Peacock on March 18, triggering a legal saga that ensued.
Originally slated to commence on March 25, the trial was postponed by three weeks as Trump alleged that prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office were deliberately withholding evidence pertinent to Cohen. However, Merchan ultimately dismissed these allegations as unfounded.
In his latest ruling, Merchan elucidated that Trump issued a subpoena to NBC on March 11, seeking documents pertaining to the documentary’s release date and any remuneration offered to Daniels. NBC promptly sought Merchan’s intervention to quash the subpoena on March 20, asserting that Daniels had no authority to dictate the documentary’s content or its timing of release.
Trump faces additional criminal indictments, although they are yet to be assigned firm trial dates. Consequently, the hush money case in New York state court in Manhattan looms as the sole impending trial ahead of his anticipated rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden in the forthcoming election on Nov. 5.
Other legal entanglements ensnaring Trump emanate from his endeavors to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat against Biden and his handling of sensitive government documents subsequent to vacating the White House in 2021. Maintaining his innocence in all these cases, Trump stands defiant against the allegations arrayed against him.
As the legal saga unfolds, the clash between Trump and NBC underscores the intricate interplay between politics, media, and the judiciary, shaping the narrative of contemporary American politics.
