Manhattan DA pushes back on Trump’s request to block Michael Cohen from testifying at hush money trial

CNN —

Manhattan prosecutors say that Donald Trump’s effort to disqualify Michael Cohen as a witness at this month’s criminal trial related to hush money payments is “unprecedented” and unwarranted.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said in a filing Tuesday that it opposes several of the former president’s motions to prevent jurors from seeing certain evidence in the case, including Cohen’s testimony and the “Access Hollywood” tape.

Trump’s arguments read “more like a press release than a legal filing,” the district attorney’s office said.

“Defendant is entitled to zealous advocacy. He is not entitled to ‘alternative facts,’” the prosecutors added.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference at 40 Wall Street on January 17, 2024 in New York City.

Related article Trump asks judge to cut the $83.3 million penalty in E. Jean Carroll case or grant him a new trial

Trump is attempting to exclude testimony from Cohen, his former attorney, and evidence related to other alleged “catch and kill” schemes Trump’s circle executed ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen is a central witness in the case against Trump. Cohen facilitated a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election to stop her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump more than a decade earlier. Trump reimbursed Cohen and falsified business records to disguise it as a legal payment, prosecutors allege. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.

Trump and his legal team asked Judge Juan Merchan to bar Cohen from testifying because he’s committed perjury more than once, most recently at Trump’s civil fraud trial. (Cohen was not charged with perjury in that