The President’s personal lawyer announced his intention to potentially plead the Fifth Amendment in a defamation suit involving the President’s alleged affair with a porn star, the porn star’s lawyer said Thursday.
“We’ve learned moments ago, within the last two hours, that Michael Cohen will be filing a motion tomorrow in our case, an emergency motion to stay — or temporarily stop — our case,” Michael Avenatti, adult film star Stephanie Clifford’s attorney, told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace.
“The grounds for that motion are going to be that it is his intention to plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if our case goes forward, in light of potential criminal jeopardy that he finds himself in,” Avenatti continued. “So this is a stunning development.”
Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, sued Trump for the right to tell her story despite a non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2016 covering the alleged affair. She’s argued that the agreement is invalid without Trump’s signature. She also recently sued Trump and Cohen for defamation over their implications, she asserted, that she was lying about the affair. The suit includes several other assertions.
Cohen’s home, hotel room and office were raided Monday. Several outlets reported that investigators were looking for, among other things, details regarding the hush money payment he made to Clifford.
Avenatti told Wallace that he and Clifford would oppose the stay, noting that Cohen “knows where a lot of bodies are buried.”
“We’re cooperating extensively with attorneys from the Southern District of New York office of the U.S. Attorney,” he added later, referring to the U.S. attorney’s office that oversaw the Cohen raids. Avenatti did not elaborate on the extent of that cooperation.
Watch below via MSNBC’s “Deadline White House:”
Breaking: Stormy Daniels’ attorney @MichaelAvenatti tells @NicolleDWallace he expects Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen to plead the 5th if motion to stop defamation suit fails
More now on #DeadlineWH pic.twitter.com/LqWIAMyKSS— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) April 12, 2018
