When CNN anchor Jake Tapper inquired about ex-Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal serving as a witness against former President Donald Trump, Trump attorney Will Scharf first criticized the gag order placed by Judge Juan Merchan, which restricts them from commenting on potential witness testimony. Nonetheless, Scharf proceeded to answer the question.
Tapper was conducting the interview as part of CNN’s coverage of the “Trump Hush Money Trial” and raised the topic of McDougal being allowed to testify in court. McDougal’s testimony relates to an alleged affair with Trump that the National Enquirer’s publisher purportedly concealed in coordination with Trump’s campaign.
Although Scharf started by discussing the gag order, he eventually expressed his opinion on McDougal’s testimony. Scharf described her testimony as “irrelevant” and stated that they had tried to prevent it from being allowed in court. He added that the judge’s decision to permit her testimony was indicative of bias against Trump and emphasized that they had filed a motion to have Judge Merchan recused from the case due to perceived conflicts and biases.
JAKE TAPPER: So, we’re told that the judge is going to allow Karen McDougal to testify — for our audience, that may not know who Karen McDougal is, Karen McDougal is the 1998 Playmate of the year, with whom Donald Trump also had a relationship, although I think longer term, allegedly.
And she was paid money by David Pecker of the company that owns, American — the National Enquirer. It’s called American Media, I believe.
And so I guess the idea here is from the prosecution is that this would establish a record, a pattern of hush money being paid to people to keep quiet so as to not embarrass the president before the presidential election.
What is your reaction to the news that Judge Merchan is going to allow Karen McDougal to testify, although not apparently about any explicit details?
WILL SCHARF: Yeah. You know, Jake, it’s it’s a difficult question to answer because of the gag order that Judge Merchan placed against President Trump that prohibits us from commenting on potential witness testimony.
This is the first gag order of its kind ever entered against a political candidate for office, I believe in American history. We believe it’s wildly overbroad and unconstitutional. And that certainly complicates my ability to answer your question directly.
I will say that I think that McDougal’s testimony is irrelevant here, and that’s why we moved to have it not allowed into court. And I think, again, what we’ve seen with Judge Merchan over and over again, is, is rulings like this, against this.
We’ve moved to have Judge Merchan recused off of this case due to what we believe are irretrievable conflicts and biases. And that’s an issue that’s also going to have to play out in the coming weeks.
