Judge shuts down Trump's bid for 'treasure trove' of key witness docs in hush money case

The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's criminal hush payment trial in Manhattan has shut down subpoenas the former president filed to obtain publishing materials associated with the books written by his one-time attorney and fixer Michael Cohen.

Cohen is a key witness in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charges Trump with bookkeeping fraud for allegedly buying the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels about an affair ahead of the 2016 election and concealing the purposes of those expenses from New York officials. After helping Trump facilitate those payments, Cohen served a brief stint in prison for campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, before turning against his former boss.

Trump's subpoenas sought the draft manuscripts for Cohen's tell-all books "Disloyal" and "Revenge" in search of inconsistencies he could use to discredit Cohen's credibility on the stand.

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But, Judge Juan Merchan wrote in his decision, Trump can't use subpoenas to go fishing for general information that might make a witness against him look like a liar.

"A subpoena may not be used to fish for impeachment material," wrote Merchan. "Based on this language in Defendant's subpoenas, it is clear that what Defendant seeks is a trove of documents that he hopes will contain impeachment material or material that goes to Cohen's biases and credibility for purposes of cross examination." He concluded that "this does not meet the standard" for a legitimate subpoena.

This comes down as Trump faces a series of other indictments at the state and federal level; however, the New York trial currently appears on track to be heard before the others as the other cases become entangled in various setbacks and delays.