NEW YORK—Stormy Daniels now wants to examine evidence seized from Donald Trump’s personal “fixer” to make sure her own attorney-client privilege is not violated. The request came in a 103-page motion filed by Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, before a hearing Thursday in Cohen’s criminal case in the Southern District of New York federal court.
FBI agents and SDNY prosecutors raided Cohen’s office, home and hotel room on April 9, grabbing a huge cache of documents and electronic communications, including evidence relating to the $130,000 payment made by Cohen to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Now, Daniels and Avenatti say the trove of documents likely includes record of communications between Daniels and her previous lawyer, Keith Davidson.
Davidson recently said in an interview that Cohen has encouraged him to publicly discuss the Daniels case, arguing that Daniels herself forfeited attorney-client privilege by speaking publicly about Trump affair and subsequent payoff.
But in the Thursday court filing, Daniels and Avenatti say making her communications with Davidson public may allow the unauthorized release of confidential information about Daniels, which could wrongly affect her lawsuit against Trump and Cohen. The entire, 103-page court document may be read online at this link.
The motion also says that Davidson “improperly shared” information about Daniels with Cohen, and that those “improper” communications are also likely to be found among that many documents seized by federal prosecutors from Cohen earlier this month.
If Judge Kimba Wood, who is presiding over the Cohen case, grants Avenatti’s motion, Daniels will officially become part of a third case against Cohen: his criminal case, following her lawsuit over the “hush” agreement and her defamation lawsuit against Cohen.
According to a report by Courthouse News, Wood appeared on the verge of granting the motion, allowing Daniels to become part of the criminal case against Cohen, but held off after an objection from another lawyer.
“I have difficulty finding any flaw in Mr. Avenatti’s position,” Wood said in court Thursday. “He just wants to be able to have a seat at the table to look at anything relating to his client." But she said that he would wait until an unspecified later time to decide whether to grant the motion by Avenatti and Daniels.
Also at Thursday’s hearing, Wood appointed a former SDNY judge, Barbara S. Jones, as a “special master” in the case, meaning Jones will review the documents and make a final decision on whether any violate Cohen and Trump’s attorney-client privilege.
Jones spent 16 years as a judge in the Southern District and later—as an independent arbitrator—ruled against the National Football League, overturning the NFL’s lifetime suspension of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice over a domestic violence allegation.
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