Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, the lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Micheal Cohen was put on hold by District Judge James Otero on Friday for three months. The Judge cited Cohen’s constitutional rights, that it could be endangered if the lawsuit proceeds while the lawyer is being investigated by the FBI. Otero wrote, referring to the US Constitution’s protection against self-incrimination, that “The court finds that there is a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr. Cohen’s Fifth Amendment rights”.
Daniel’s lawyer Michael Avenatti took to Twitter to say he would file an immediate appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California, which may lead the Supreme Court to weigh in eventually. He also wrote on Twitter, “we do not agree with it”. Judge Otero then wrote “the court agrees that [Daniels] has not established that she has actually been deterred from speaking, or that a delay in proceedings would cause undue prejudice” and that the delay would not affect the case.
Cohen had been raided by the FBI in April following the Russia collusion case involving Trump and is now being investigated. A non-disclosure agreement Daniels signed days before the 2016 presidential election was sought out by the Bureau. Several documents had been confiscated and amongst the list was the $130,000 hush money payment to the adult star to keep silent on her alleged affair with Trump who has denied the affair and any knowledge of the payment, although he has said that Cohen represents him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels’ deal”. Cohen and the Federal Government have said that the hush money payment is at the center of the investigation but have not publicly disclosed the precise reason for the investigation.
