Release the ‘Trump Tapes’ says Stormy Daniels’s attorney

 Porn star Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti demanded that Michael Cohen immediately release the ‘trump tapes’ that he says will show the president ‘conspiring’ with his longtime personal attorney. 

Avenatti spoke outside a federal court in Manhattan after it was revealed inside the courtroom that Cohen kept audio recordings that he said are being kept under ‘lock and key.’

Avenatti immediately branded them the ‘#TrumpTapes’ – just minutes after being scolded by Judge Kimba Wood for engaging in ‘public relations’ that could impact a future jury pool. 

‘Just like the Nixon tapes years ago we now have what I will refer to as the Trump  Tapes,’ Avenatti told reporters outside the courthouse. 

Attorney Michael Avenatti arrives at the United States District Court Southern District of New York on May 30, 2018 in New York City.

He said Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, ‘admitted that there are audio recordings that Michael Cohen was taking for years and that those recordings are to quote him – not only to they exist but they are under lock and key, and some of them relate to my client and her attorney-client privilege communications,’ Avenatti continued.

‘Mr. Cohen and his attorney Mr. Ryan should release all of those audio recordings to the American people and the Congress so that they can be heard by all and people can make their own determinations as to their importance relating to the president and what he knew and when he knew it and what he did as to conspiring with Michael Cohen to commit one or more potential crimes.’

He appeared to be referring to conversations between Cohen and Keith Davidson, Daniels’ former lawyer. 

He has been involved in negotiations over other ‘hush’ agreements, and brokered her non-disclosure deal with Cohen and Donald Trump, although Trump never signed it. It resulted in a $130,000 payment from Cohen to Daniels. Trump wrote on a federal form that he ‘reimbursed’ Cohen for up to $250,000.

Avenatti pushed back at the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday by releasing a 2016 email between a Journal reporter and Davidson, and claiming the WSJ ‘sat on’ the the original Stormy Daniels story in the final days of the election.

According to the Journal, Avenatti has yet to act on requests that Daniels waive attorney client privilege to allow Davidson to discuss his communications.

 

 

 

Michael Cohen’s lawyers have gone through about a third of the 3.7 million files obtained in an FBI raid on President Trump’s longtime lawyer.

The lawyers for Cohen, who is under criminal investigation for potential tax, banking, and campaign finance violations, have made their way through 1.3 million of them, they said at a federal court appearance today.

Also being reviewed are a ‘not voluminous’ amount of material located in a shredder.

The lawyers are relying on a special master, judge Barbara Jordan, to comb through documents to identify those that might be covered by attorney-client privilege.

Her first bill to the government came in Tuesday night, to the tune of $47,000, with the government and both sides splitting the cost. She is charging $700 per hour, which may well be a reduced rate for what she would normally command. That amount covered her first six days of work sorting through material.

Longtime Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen arrives to court in New York, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Lawyers for President  Trump and Cohen appear again before a judge in New York as part of an ongoing legal tussle about attorney client privilege and records seized from Cohen by the FBI

Longtime Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen arrives to court in New York, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Lawyers for President Trump and Cohen appear again before a judge in New York as part of an ongoing legal tussle about attorney client privilege and records seized from Cohen by the FBI

Additionally, a ‘not voluminous’ amount has been found in a shredder. Plus, lawyers must sort through a pair of Blackberries that may belong to Cohen’s Ukraine-born wife, according to what was shared in court.

Federal Judge Kimba Wood, who overseeing the case, also chided porn star Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti for a ‘publicity tour,’ saying it would have to cease if Cohen faces a criminal trial, Courthouse News reported. 

To represent his client in the case, the California-licensed Attorney must gain the court’s permission – something Cohen’s team is fighting, citing his stunning disclosure of Cohen’s financial information.

Avenatti disclosed millions in fees Cohen collected around Trump’s inauguration and first year in office in an ‘influence peddling’ operation linked to his access to Trump. 

NO VICE: Avenatti is seeking the court's permission to represent his client pro hac vice, since he is a member of the California but not the New York bar

NO VICE: Avenatti is seeking the court’s permission to represent his client pro hac vice, since he is a member of the California but not the New York bar

Cohen’s attorney, Stephen Ryan, blasted the disclosure of personal financial information as ‘reckless and improper.’

Daniels’ attorney is expected to ask a federal judge on Wednesday to address claims that President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, leaked audio recordings seized from Cohen in raids of his home and office to news media outlets.

The issue was among several slated to come up in a hearing that began before U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan, who is also expected to get an update on a review of materials federal agents seized in the April raids.

Stormy Daniels Fan Meet And Greet at Chi Chi LaRue's on May 23, 2018 in West Hollywood, California. The porn star is suing Cohen to have a non-disclosure agreement tossed

Stormy Daniels Fan Meet And Greet at Chi Chi LaRue’s on May 23, 2018 in West Hollywood, California. The porn star is suing Cohen to have a non-disclosure agreement tossed

PUBLICITY TOUR: Judge Kimba Wood brought up Avenatti's 'publicity tour,' noting it could impact a potential jury pool

PUBLICITY TOUR: Judge Kimba Wood brought up Avenatti’s ‘publicity tour,’ noting it could impact a potential jury pool

A special master has gone through 1.3 million items found on three cell phones belonging to Cohen

A special master has gone through 1.3 million items found on three cell phones belonging to Cohen

Cohen and Avenatti were among those in court on Wednesday morning.

Cohen, who has not been charged with any crime, is under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan regarding his business dealings.

The investigation stems in part from a referral by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia. Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion, and Russia has denied interfering in the U.S. presidential elections.

Cohen has worked for Trump for more than a decade, first as counsel at the Trump Organization and later as his personal lawyer.

In 2016, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000. Daniels has said the payment was intended to buy her silence about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006. The president has denied the allegation.

Avenatti said in a letter last week that he had reason to believe that Cohen had leaked audio recordings, which he said may relate to his client, to media outlets. Daniels’ attorney asked that Wood ask Cohen about the possible leaks.

Avenatti has also asked Wood to allow him to represent Daniels in the Cohen case. He has said he believes some of the seized materials could relate to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Cohen has asked Wood to deny Avenatti permission to appear before the federal court, saying he violated court rules by making what he characterized as false statements about Cohen in frequent news media appearances.

After the raids on Cohen’s home and office, Cohen and Trump asked the judge to block prosecutors from reviewing the seized documents, citing attorney-client privilege.

Wood responded by appointing former U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones as a so-called special master to review whether any of the documents were shielded by attorney-client privilege before turning them over to prosecutors.

In a court filing on Tuesday evening, Jones said she had already turned over to prosecutors more than 290,000 seized items that were not marked privileged by Cohen or Trump.

She said that more than a million items from three seized phones had also been designated as not privileged by Cohen and Trump, and would be turned over to prosecutors Wednesday after a final review.

Those items, taken from three phones seized by the FBI, were deemed to be not ‘privileged or highly personal’ by the special master.

Cohen and Trump have made at least 252 claims of privilege, according to the filing.

A number of Cohen’s financial dealings since Trump’s January 2017 inauguration have become public.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG has said it had paid Cohen nearly $1.2 million as a consultant; U.S. telecommunications company AT&T Inc said it made payments of $600,000; and South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd said it hired him for $150,000.

Cohen also received $500,000 from Columbus Nova Llc, a New York company linked to Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg. The firm has said the transaction had nothing to do with Vekselberg.

Mueller’s investigation, which began in May 2017, has yielded 17 indictments and five guilty pleas so far. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)



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