NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s subpoena to Comcast-owned NBCUniversal for material related to a recent documentary about porn star Stormy Daniels was blocked on Friday by the judge overseeing the former U.S. president’s criminal trial. April 15.
Judge Juan Merchan said Trump’s claim that Daniels and NBC conspired to release the film close to the trial to harm him was unsupported.
“His subpoena and the demands contained therein are the very definition of a fishing expedition,” the judge wrote in a court order.
Trump is accused of hiding his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.
The Republican presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and denies any such meeting with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
The documentary “Stormy” was released on NBC’s streaming service Peacock in March.