Trump lawyers say whore Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s legal team says it tried serving 
Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar 
in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to 
be a witness at the former president’s criminal trial, refused 
to take it and walked away.

A process server working for Trump’s lawyers said he approached 
Daniels with papers demanding information related to a 
documentary recently released about her life and involvement 
with Trump, but was forced to “leave them at her feet,” 
according to a court filing made public Wednesday.

“I stated she was served as I identified her and explained to 
her what the documents were,” process server Dominic DellaPorte 
wrote. “She did not acknowledge me and kept walking inside the 
venue, and she had no expression on her face.”

The encounter, prior to a screening of the “Stormy” film at the 
3 Dollar Bill nightclub, has touched off a monthlong battle 
between Trump’s lawyers and Daniels’ attorney that continued 
this week as the presumptive Republican nominee’s criminal trial 
began in Manhattan.

Trump’s lawyers are asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to force 
Daniels to comply with the subpoena. In their filing, they 
included a photo they said DellaPorte took of Daniels as she 
strode away.

Daniels’ lawyer Clark Brewster claims they never received the 
paperwork. He described the requests as an “unwarranted fishing 
expedition” with no relevance to Trump’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 an April 9 letter to Merchan. 
Brewster didn’t immediately reply to a message from The 
Associated Press seeking comment.

The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases 
to go to trial. Seven jurors have been seated so far. Jury 
selection is set to resume Thursday.

Daniels is expected to testify about a $130,000 payment she got 
in 2016 from one of Trump’s lawyers at the time, Michael Cohen, 
in order to stop her from speaking publicly about a sexual 
encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.

Cohen was later reimbursed by Trump’s company for that payment. 
Trump is accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the 
nature of that payment, and other work he did to bury negative 
stories during the 2016 campaign.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of 
falsifying business records. He denies having a sexual encounter 
with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were 
legitimate legal expenses, and were recorded correctly.

In a separate filing made public Wednesday, the Manhattan 
district attorney’s office said that if Trump chooses to testify 
at the trial, prosecutors plan to challenge his credibility by 
questioning him about his recent legal setbacks. The filing was 
made last month under seal.

Trump was recently ordered to pay a $454 million civil penalty 
following a trial in which a judge ruled he had lied about his 
wealth on financial statements. In another trial, a jury said he 
was liable for $83.3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll 
after she accused him of sexual assault.

Merchan said he plans to hold a hearing Friday to decide whether 
that will be allowed.

Under New York law, prosecutors can question witnesses about 
past legal matters in certain circumstances. Trump’s lawyers are 
opposed. Trump has said he wants to testify, but he is not 
required to and can always change his mind.

As for the subpoena dispute, it marks the latest attempt by 
Trump’s lawyers to knock loose potentially damaging information 
about Daniels, a key prosecution witness.

They are demanding an array of documents related to the 
promotion and editing of the documentary, “Stormy,” which 
explores Daniels’ career in the adult film industry and rise to 
celebrity since her alleged involvement with Trump became 
publicly known.

They are also requesting Daniels reveal how much, if anything, 
she was compensated for the film.

Trump’s lawyers contend the film’s premiere last month on NBC’s 
Peacock streaming service — a week before the trial was 
originally scheduled to start — stoked negative publicity about 
Trump, muddying his ability to get a fair trial.

In the filings made public Wednesday, Trump’s attorneys accuse 
Daniels of “plainly seeking to promote her brand and make money 
based on her status as a witness.”

The subpoena also demands communications between Daniels and 
other likely witnesses in the trial, including Cohen and Karen 
McDougal, a former Playboy model who alleges she had an affair 
with Trump. It also requests any communications between Daniels 
and Carroll.

Earlier this month, Merchan blocked an attempt by Trump to 
subpoena NBC Universal for information related to the 
documentary. He wrote that subpoena and the demands therein “are 
the very definition of a fishing expedition.”

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