Donald Trump, former U.S. President, has been unsuccessful in his attempt to block the testimony of adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal in a criminal trial where he stands accused of falsifying business records relating to hush-money payments prior to the 2016 election. The ruling came on Monday by State court judge Juan Merchan who deemed the womens’ testimonies as integral to the charges raised by the prosecution.
The prosecution alleges that Trump sought to hide supposed sexual encounters with Daniels and McDougal. Trump has countered these charges, insistently denying any wrongdoing and asserting that such testimonies have no relevance to the accusations of falsification of business records.
An interesting development was that a pre-existing ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, deemed too prejudicial, was ruled out and won’t be shown in court. This tape was initially brought into the context on grounds of relevance to the accusations.
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