Michael Cohen arranged payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal allegedly to keep them quiet about their affairs with former President Trump. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, File)
"This Court has been unable to locate any treatise, statute, or holding from courts in this jurisdiction, or others, that support Defenant's rationale that a prosecution witness should be kept off the witness stand because his credibility has been previously called into question," the judge wrote.
The trial stems from Bragg's investigation into Trump's alleged hush-money payments during the 2016 election.
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 and arranged for the publisher of the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid to pay McDougal $150,000 to suppress their claims that they had affairs with Trump years earlier. Trump's company then reimbursed Cohen and logged the payments to him as legal expenses, prosecutors said.
Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in his quest to retake the White House, pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up. Trump says he did not have any of the alleged sexual encounters.
SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS IN TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY CASE ON APRIL 25
Former President Trump speaks to a crowd during a campaign rally on Sept. 25, 2023, in Summerville, South Carolina. Trump has pleaded not guilty to falsifying his business records and denied ever having affairs with Stormy Daniels or Karen McDougal. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Merchan also ruled Monday that the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape — in which Trump bragged about grabbing a woman's private parts without consent — will not be shown at trial.
The judge said prosecutors may question witnesses about the 2005 video, which was unearthed during the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. However, he added "it is not necessary that the tape itself be introduced into evidence or that it be played for the jury."
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Prosecutors say the "Access Hollywood" footage and various sexual assault claims made against Trump prompted him to pay off Daniels to keep negative stories out of the press. Trump's lawyers argued the video "contains inflammatory and unduly prejudicial evidence that has no place at this trial about documents and accounting practices."
In other rulings, Merhcan rejected a defense request that prosecutors be precluded from arguing that Trump sought to improperly influence the 2016 election or that the National Enquirer suppressed negative news coverage of him with a "catch and kill" strategy.
Fox News' Grace Taggart and Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman, as well as The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
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