A judge overseeing former President Donald Trump s trial for allegedly paying hush money ahead of the 2016 election quashed Trumps bid to block testimony from his former lawyer Michael Cohen and porn actress Stormy Daniels on Monday.

Trump had sought to prevent testimony from or about Cohen and Daniels by claiming their testimony would be immaterial to the case in an earlier filing with the court. New York Judge Juan Merchan firmly rejected this effort , arguing the two witnesses are essential to the narrative surrounding the charges Trump faces related to the hush money payments and subsequent falsification of business records to hide them.

In addition, Merchan allowed prosecutors to discuss, but not show, the Access Hollywood tape famously released one month prior to the 2016 election. The tape revealed Trump boasting about how his celebrity allowed him to sexually assault women as he pleased, and its discovery was a key event leading Trumps inner circle to make the alleged hush money payments.

The case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg revolves around Trumps effort to prevent two women who alleged affairs with him and a former Trump Tower doorman from going public with allegations about his extramarital affairs by purchasing the rights to their stories.

Daniels claims to have had sex with Trump after meeting him at a golf course in 2006. Karen McDougal, an actress, also alleged she had an affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007. Dino Sajudin, the ex-doorman, wrote a book alleging that Trump fathered a child with an employee in the late 1980s.

The stories of all three were purchased by either Cohen or American Media, Inc., the parent company of The National Enquirer, from 2015-2016 as part of an alleged catch-and-kill scheme orchestrated by Trump, Cohen and AMIs David Pecker to protect Trump from negative press as he ran for president. The case against Trump alleges that the former president falsified business records and broke campaign finance laws as part of the scheme.