Judge denies final subpoena in Trump hush money case, considers recusal request

The judge presiding over Donald Trump‘s hush money case declined the former president’s bid to subpoena NBCUniversal over a documentary it created about porn star Stormy Daniels but granted consideration of Trump’s effort to replace him on the case.

A weekslong trial is approaching on April 15 over Trump’s 34-count indictment for allegedly falsifying business records in New York to hide a hush money payment to Daniels to cover up an alleged years-old affair in the final days of his 2016 campaign. Trump accused NBCUniversal of colluding with Daniels and sought the subpoena for records associated with its production of Stormy, which it released last month on the network’s streaming service, Peacock.

In back-to-back movement on the courtroom docket, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s subpoena effort but later granted the former president’s bid to brief arguments on whether his daughter’s role for a progressive consulting firm warrants his recusal from the case.

Merchan said Trump failed to show a “clear and specific” finding of relevant material necessary to subpoena the documentary records, according to his four-page decision on the subpoena.

Trump’s lawyers, led by Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, said they were seeking information that would reveal “collusion between NBCU and Daniels relating to the release date of the documentary,” as well as any information that could affect his trial, which is slated to begin with jury selection on April 15.

NBCUniversal argued Trump had no “right to approve the content of the Documentary or the timing of its release,” according to a legal affirmation filed in the case from Erica Forstadt, senior vice president of production and development at the media company.

Merchan found the subpoena was “far too broad” and rejected it, in part on the basis that NBCUniversal is a media organization and that Trump failed to meet the burdens required by New York’s Civil Rights Law to do so.

“Because defendant’s claims are purely speculative and unsupported, his subpoena and the demands therein are the very definition of a fishing expedition,” Merchan wrote.

The recently released documentary tells the story of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and how her life was changed in 2018 when she publicly claimed she’d had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies Daniels’s affair allegations.

Daniels is expected to testify in Trump’s hush money trial, in addition to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer who a judge recently found likely committed perjury during a separate trial.

The rejection comes as Trump has recently seen setbacks in Merchan’s court over a gag order dispute prompted by Trump’s criticism of his daughter Loren, who holds a leadership role with Authentic Campaigns. The firm has done work with multiple Democratic clients, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who led the House impeachment inquiry against Trump.

As a result of Trump raising awareness about the judge’s daughter, the gag order was expanded to bar the former president from making insults and accusations about Merchan’s family members and the relatives of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the elected Democrat who is leading the case.

“The manner in which Authentic and Ms. Merchan are marketing the company, and making money, through expressions of animus toward President Trump has created a prohibited appearance of impropriety,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a motion to recuse Merchan on April 3, which became visible on Friday afternoon after Merchan said he would allow briefing on the matter.

Last year, Merchan denied Trump’s original recusal motion that cited his daughter’s employment and $35 in donations the judge made during the 2020 campaign cycle to the Biden campaign and two left-leaning groups. The judge said he accepted guidance from a state ethics advisory committee that said he need not step aside.

The motion alleges that Schiff is one of “at least six Authentic clients” who have solicited donations using electronic communications that have referenced the hush money case, including “communications around the time of the Indictment, the arraignment, and following the Court’s denial of President Trump’s recusal motion.”

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Additionally, Authentic received more than $29 million in disbursements from Democratic-affiliated entities between 2021 and 2022, including $9.6 million from Schiff for Congress, according to data Trump’s attorneys obtained from OpenSecrets.

Bragg’s office said Tuesday that there were “no changed circumstances” to justify revisiting whether Merchan should be recused.