Donald Trump's Lawyers Claim Stormy Daniels 'Refused' Subpoena Connected to Hush Money Trial — Papers Were Left 'at Her Feet' Outside Bar
April 18 2024, Published 11:00 a.m. ET
Donald Trump’s lawyers recently claimed that Stormy Daniels “refused” a subpoena connected to the ex-president’s criminal hush money trial in New York, RadarOnline.com has learned. The subpoena was allegedly left “at her feet” outside of a New York City bar.
In the latest development to come after Trump became the first former U.S. president to appear in court on criminal charges on Monday, the ex-president’s legal team claimed that Daniels – a key witness in the case – “refused” a subpoena.
According to the process server hired by Trump’s lawyers, he approached Daniels with papers that demanded information connected to a recent documentary about her life and alleged affair with Trump.
The process server also claimed that he was forced to “leave [the subpoena] at [Daniels’] feet,” according to a court filing made public on Wednesday.
“I stated she was served as I identified her and explained to her what the documents were,” process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote in the newly released court filing.
“She did not acknowledge me and kept walking inside the venue,” he continued, “and she had no expression on her face.”
DellaPorte also claimed that the alleged encounter transpired moments before a screening of the new Stormy documentary at the 3 Dollar Bill nightclub in Brooklyn.
Trump’s attorneys accused Daniels of “plainly seeking to promote her brand” via her new Stormy documentary and “make money based on her status as a witness” in the ex-president’s criminal case.
Trump’s lawyers have since asked Judge Juan Merchan to order Daniels to comply with the subpoena. They also provided a photo that allegedly showed Daniels ignoring the subpoena.
Meanwhile, Daniels’ lawyer – Clark Brewster – claimed that neither Daniels nor Daniels’ legal team received the subpoena paperwork from Trump’s lawyers.
Brewster also called the Trump team’s subpoena request an “unwarranted fishing expedition” with “no relevance” to the embattled ex-president’s criminal trial.
“The process – instituted on the eve of trial – appears calculated to cause harassment and/or intimidation of a lay witness,” Brewster wrote in a filing to Judge Merchan earlier this month.
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, ex-President Trump’s criminal hush money trial kicked off inside a Manhattan courthouse on Monday.
Trump was accused of falsifying New York business records to hide several alleged hush money payments he made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels, an adult film star, is scheduled to testify about one alleged $130,000 hush money payment she received in 2016 from Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen.
The $130,000 payment was allegedly made to stop Daniels from speaking publicly about a sexual encounter she allegedly shared with Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Judge Merchan recently blocked a similar attempt by Trump’s lawyers to subpoena NBC Universal for information related to the new Stormy documentary.
The judge blocked that subpoena earlier this month and claimed that the subpoena and its demands were “the very definition of a fishing expedition.”