Judge bars video of Trump at trial

NEW YORK — The “Access Hollywood” video in which Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without asking permission will not be shown to jurors at the former president’s hush-money criminal trial, a New York judge ruled Monday.

Judge Juan Merchan said Manhattan prosecutors can still question witnesses about the 2005 tape, but the judge said “it is not necessary that the tape itself be introduced into evidence or that it be played for the jury.”

Merchan issued his rulings on the “Access Hollywood” tape and other issues even after deciding last Friday to postpone the trial until at least mid-April to deal with a last-minute evidence dump that Trump’s lawyers said was hampering their ability to prepare their defense.

Merchan scheduled a hearing for March 25, the trial’s original start date, to address that issue.

Trump’s hush-money case centers on claims that he falsified his company’s records to hide the true nature of payments to Cohen, who helped Trump bury negative stories during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Cohen paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 and arranged for the publisher of the National Enquirer to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 to suppress their claims that they had extramarital affairs with Trump years earlier. Trump’s company then reimbursed Cohen and logged the payments to him as legal expenses, prosecutors said.

Trump pleaded innocent last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. His lawyers argue that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up. Trump says he didn’t have any of the alleged sexual encounters.