President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation, was ordered Friday to file a declaration in Los Angeles federal court stating if he plans to assert his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying in a lawsuit filed by adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.
U.S. District Judge S. James Otero asked Cohen’s attorney to file the declaration by Wednesday, noting that Cohen is facing a possible criminal indictment considering the recent FBI raid of his office, home and hotel room in New York.
Otero did not immediately rule on a request by attorneys for Cohen and Trump to put Daniels’ lawsuit on hold for three months so Cohen can focus on the FBI investigation. Daniels is suing to invalidate a “hush agreement” she signed just before the 2016 presidential election to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged affair she claims to have had with Trump in 2006-07.
At one point during Friday’s hearing in downtown Los Angeles, Cohen’s attorney, Brent Blakely, appeared to concede the possibility his client might be indicted in the next three months. But he said his source for that information was Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, who made the claim during a recent interview.
Federal authorities have not publicly stated the focus of the New York investigation into Cohen, but various media reports have suggested he’s being probed for possible tax fraud or campaign finance violations, possibly stemming from the $130,000 he has admitted paying Daniels as part of the 2016 “hush agreement.”
Avenatti has argued in court papers that the civil case should move ahead because Trump and Cohen have provided no evidence to bolster their claim that a jury trial would be unfair to them. Avenatti also argues that Cohen has already spoken publicly about the case and that a delay is unfair to his client.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges in her lawsuit that the “hush agreement” is invalid because Trump never signed it.
Cohen has admitted paying Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket just before the presidential election and that he wasn’t reimbursed. Trump has publicly denied any knowledge of the payment.
Otero also did not rule on a pending motion by Trump and Cohen to force the Daniels case into private arbitration. They contend the agreement Daniels signed requires any disputes to be handled in the closed-door proceedings.
Avenatti is opposing that move, saying the case should be heard in public.
White House press officials have repeatedly said Trump denies having had an affair with Daniels.
On Wednesday, Trump took his first direct shot at Daniels, accusing her of engineering a “con job” by releasing a sketch of somebody she claims threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 to keep quiet about the alleged affair.
“A sketch years later about a nonexistent man,” Trump wrote on his Twitter page. “A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for fools, but they know it!”
Along with his message, he retweeted a photo posted by a supporter showing Daniels with an ex-boyfriend, who bears a strong resemblance to the sketch Daniels and her attorney released Tuesday.
Daniels claims the man threatened her when reports first began to surface about her alleged affair with Trump. During a Tuesday appearance on ABC’s “The View,” she and Avenatti also announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the man.
Responding to Trump’s Twitter post, Avenatti tweeted that the reward offer was being increased to $131,000. He also referenced the recent FBI raid of Cohen’s offices, and suggested that Cohen and Trump are the ones engineering a “con job.”
Avenatti recently expanded Daniels’ lawsuit, adding a defamation allegation against Cohen, who has accused Daniels of lying about the alleged affair and her allegation that she was threatened.
Cohen has filed papers alleging he could seek as much as $20 million from the actress for breaching the non-disclosure pact.