LOS ANGELES—Remember all those old TV shows and even news reports where various government officials and law enforcement personnel always used to say, "Whaddya mean you're claiming the Fifth? You got nothin' ta hide, do ya?" Well, by that logic, Trump attorney and Stormy Daniels hush money conduit Michael Cohen apparently has something to hide, since he filed an affidavit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California earlier today stating that because on April 9, the FBI served subpoenas for his records at his office, home, hotel room and bank (for his safe deposit box), he would be claiming his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself in Daniels' lawsuit against Trump, Cohen and the LLC Cohen created as a conduit for the payoff, Essential Consultants.
The apparent impetus for the affidavit was Judge S. James Otero's indication, at a hearing held in Los Angeles Federal Court on April 20, that Cohen would have to file a “supporting declaration” to back up his (Cohen's) request for a 90-day delay in the suit's proceeding. The basis for the delay was alleged to be the “ongoing criminal investigation” of Cohen by the FBI, which has been working with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
"Based upon the advice of counsel, I will assert my 5th Amendment rights in connection with all proceedings in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York," reads Cohen's affidavit in part. "On April 10, 2018 I first realized that my Fifth Amendment rights would be implicated in this case, after I considered the events of April 9, 2018, described in the above paragraph 2." (That paragraph simply describes, in general, the items that were seized pursuant to the FBI's search warrants.)
Or as his client Donald Trump put it during a campaign rally in Iowa in 2016, "The mob takes the Fifth. If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?"
Cohen's statements appear to be a major admission on his part that the materials seized in the April 9 raid in fact have some relationship to the Daniels case—a relationship that Trump and Cohen had been doing their best to avoid making—but now Cohen has done so.
"This is a stunning development," tweeted Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti late this afternoon. "Never before in our nation’s history has the attorney for the sitting President invoked the 5th Amend in connection with issues surrounding the President. It is esp. stunning seeing as MC served as the 'fixer' for Mr. Trump for over 10 yrs."
Among the documents seized in the raid were reportedly ones related to the payoff Cohen made to Daniels shortly before the presidential election in November, 2016—a payoff that the U.S. Attorney's office is looking at as a possible election law violation. Daniels' suit, on the other hand, seeks to free her from the "hush agreement" based on the fact that Trump never signed it, and was later amended to add allegations that Cohen had defamed her in statements he had made. The possibility remains that Trump himself will also be added to the suit, based on statements he had made.
At the April 20 hearing, Judge Otero said he would wait to receive Cohen's affidavit before ruling on whether to allow the Daniels lawsuit to be delayed, possibly for as long as 90 days as requested, and now that he has received it, his decision on the delay is expected within the next few days.
