Attorney Michael Avenatti suggested that his client, adult entertainer ‘Stormy Daniels,’ may be present at a hearing on Monday related to review of documents produced by the FBI’s raid on the home, hotel and office of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Cohen has petitioned the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking a temporary restraining order to delay prosecutors’ review of documents and devices seized in the raid, claiming it’s protected by attorney-client privilege.
Avenatti believes some of the documents seized on April 9 relate to Daniels, he said on Friday from the courthouse.
He followed those comments up with a suggestive tweet that ‘the weather forecast for Mon looks very Stormy.’
Attorney Michael Avenatti suggested that his client, adult entertainer ‘Stormy Daniels,’ may be present at a hearing on Monday related to review of documents produced by the FBI’s raid on the home, hotel and office of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen; Cohen is seen here in New York on Friday
The implication by Avenatti that Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, may show up on Monday comes after US District Judge Kimba Wood order Cohen to appear for the hearing
The implication by Avenatti that Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, may show up on Monday comes after US District Judge Kimba Wood order Cohen to appear for the hearing on Monday.
Avenatti tweeted on Friday: ‘The Hon Kimba Wood’s order directing Mr. Cohen to appear in person on Monday at 2 pm to potentially answer questions from her could be a problem if he intends on taking the 5th. I checked and the weather forecast for Mon looks very Stormy… #basta.’
Daniels’ attorney has taken to ending his tweets related to Cohen and Trump with the hashtag #basta, which according to Dictionary.com, ‘is an interjection that means “enough; stop.”‘
Judge Wood said on Friday that Cohen needed to be present at the hearing on his temporary restraining order request to help answer questions about his law practice.
Prosecutors who seek to continue their review of seized contents have argued that Cohen barely practiced law so most of the documents aren’t off limits.
A brief they filed in response to Cohen’s court action revealed that he’d been under investigation for months and that the FBI had searched multiple email accounts.
The prosecutors’ filing said none of those emails was exchanged with Trump.
People familiar with the federal investigation that provided the factual basis for the search warrant which resulted in the raid on Cohen said that part of what the search warrant sought to uncover included information on payments made to Stormy Daniels (pictured)
Cohen previously admitted paying Daniels $130,000, which she said was payment in exchange for an agreement not to discuss an affair she claims to have had with the president; Daniels is seen here with Donald Trump, before he was elected president
Trump, who in the last month has escalated his attacks on Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, said it was a ‘disgrace’ that the FBI ‘broke into’ his lawyer’s office.
He called Mueller’s investigation ‘an attack on our country.’
The prosecutors’ brief in this case, brought by Cohen to stop the review of seized documents, stated that the criminal probe that led FBI agents to raid Cohen’s offices is focused on his ‘personal business dealings.’
Prosecutors blacked out a section in the document describing what crime they believe Trump attorney Michael Cohen has committed.
People familiar with the federal investigation that provided the factual basis for the search warrant which resulted in the raid on Cohen told The Associated Press that part of what the search warrant sought to uncover included information on payments made to Daniels.
Cohen is seen here leaving the Lowes Regency Hotel in New York City on Saturday morning
Daniels is shown here in a still image taken from an interview with Anderson Cooper which aired on CBS’ 60 Minutes on March 25
Cohen previously admitted paying Daniels $130,000, which she said was payment in exchange for an agreement not to discuss an affair she claims to have had with the president.
When news first broke that it was suspected Daniels and Trump had an affair around the time of the bitrh of his youngst son Barron, Daniels denied the sexual relationship.
However, after Cohen spoke about paying Daniels $130,000, she claimed the agreement had been breached, setting her free to tell her story about her alleged physical encounters with the president.
Trump has denied that he had an affair with Daniels, and also claims she made that he had her threatened to remain quiet about their alleged romantic relationship.
But in an interview with Anderson Cooper for CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired on March 25, Daniels recounted the experience.
Inan interview with Anderson Cooper for CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired on March 25, Daniels recounted her version of her interactions with Trump; Daniels is seen here posing for a photo before her performance at Gossip Night Club on February 22 in Melville, New York
Trump has denied that he had an affair with Daniels, and also claims she made that he had her threatened to remain quiet about their alleged romantic relationship; Trump is seen here addressing the nation on the situation in Syria on Friday at the White House in Washington, DC
She said in the interview that she had one encounter of consensual sex with the future president.
‘He knows I’m telling the truth,’ said Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford.
She did not allege however that she was coerced into the encounter with the real estate scion, saying, ‘This is not a “me too.” I was not a victim.’
Daniels said her night with Trump began with him talking about himself and showing her an issue of a magazine with his picture on the cover.
‘Does this normally work for you?’ Daniels said she told the then-reality TV star.
That threw Trump off guard she claimed, going on to explain: ‘And I was like, “Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it.”‘
Daniels then ordered Trump to drop his pants and ‘gave him a couple swats’ in playful manner she said to Cooper.
She said they talked some more after that and that she became more comfortable when he stopped speaking about himself.
‘He was like, “Wow, you – you are special. You remind me of my daughter.” You know – he was like, “You’re smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you,”‘ said Daniels.
The pair had dinner in Trump’s room she said and then had sex.
He didn’t use a condom, she said, and she didn’t ask him to. Afterward, he asked to see her again, she said.
Daniels said that before they had sex Trump had broached the idea of her being a contestant on The Apprentice, and she likened it to a ‘business opportunity.’
After the alleged tryst she said he called her several times and would ask if they could get together again and would claim that he had an update for her about the Apprentice.
Daniels is shown here arriving to perform at the Solid Gold Fort Lauderdale strip club on March 9 in Pompano Beach, Florida
She said she felt that he was holding out the opportunity to keep her coming back.
‘Of course. I mean, I’m not blind. But at the same time, maybe it’ll work out, you know?’ said Daniels.
In July 2007, a year after they had met, Daniels said Trump asked to meet with her privately at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. She said they did not have sex, but he wanted to.
Daniels reported that Trump called her the following month to say he had not been able to get her a spot on his TV show. She said they never met again.
Regarding the claim that Trump tried to intimidate her into silence, Daniels explained to Cooper that she was approached by a man while with her young daughter.
‘And a guy walked up on me and said to me, “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.” And then he was gone,’ Daniels said.
She said, seven years later, she’d still be able to recognize him.
‘If he walked in this door right now, I would instantly know,’ Daniels told Cooper.
Joanna Hendon, an attorney for the president, also appeared on Friday and told Judge Wood that Trump has ‘an acute interest in this matter.’
The hearing on Cohen’s petition asking the court seeking to block prosecutor’s the review of the seized information was first announced late on Thursday.
His team has asked to review the documents and devices first, before prosecutors may examine them, to protect information covered under attorney-client privilege and specify items they believe aren’t relevant to the investigation.
The hearing on Cohen’s petition asking the court seeking to block prosecutor’s the review of the seized information was first announced late on Thursday; Cohen is seen here in New York City on Friday