The case against former President Donald Trump got off to a rocky start Monday morning as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was denied the opportunity to present one of his key pieces of character evidence.
District Judge Juan Merchan ruled following opening remarks that he would not permit Bragg to show a jury the infamous Hollywood Access tape in which Trump carries on “locker room talk,” as he characterized it, with a host while talking off the record. Bragg had intended to showcase the clip as an example of Trump’s derogatory views toward women as he prosecutes him for business fraud over a hush money payment sent to an adult film star.
ABC News reported on the development after Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor with Bragg’s team, argued that the video contains “extremely salacious evidence that’s very, very, very prejudicial.” Judge Merchan said he would allow Steinglass to read the words said on tape.
“It’s not a little point,” Merchan said. “My ruling that we were not to play the tape was, and remains, that the tape itself is so prejudicial — to see Mr. Trump depicted, the words coming out of his mouth, the facial expressions … the tape itself should not come in.”
On the tape, President Trump can be overheard telling an associate “when you’re a star, you can do anything” to women, including “Grab them by the p—-.”
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