Attorneys for Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen invoked the Fifth Amendment in a joint filing previewing their intent to ask for an indefinite hold on the lawsuit seeking to void the Nondisclosure Agreement between Stormy Daniels and Essential Consultants LLC:
Plaintiff Stephanie Clifford (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants Essential Consultants, LLC (“EC”), Michael Cohen and Donald J. Trump (collectively, “Defendants”) (together with Plaintiff, the “Parties”) hereby jointly agree and stipulate as follows:
WHEREAS, Defendants intend to file an ex parte application to stay this action on the grounds that an ongoing criminal investigation overlaps with the facts of this case, and implicates Defendant Michael Cohen’s Fifth Amendment rights (the “Ex Parte Application”) [emphasis added]
Let's remember that this is a civil suit involving the NDA between Daniels and Trump, but it is also inextricably linked now to the criminal investigation being conducted by the federal authorities in the Southern District of New York and their raid of the Cohen's office, house and hotel room. (In a separate legal effort, Cohen is trying to block SDNY investigators from reviewing the materials seized during that raid.)
But the unmistakable point about the newest legal filing on behalf of Cohen regarding the Stormy suit is that his lawyers are invoking Cohen's Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination in their bid to derail the suit.
Daniels’s lawyer Michael Avenatti actually broke the news that Cohen’s lawyers would be seeking an emergency stay during an appearance on MSNBC Thursday.
“Make no mistake about it. We’re talking about the attorney to the president of the United States,” Aventti said. “The man that knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and we have learned within the last hour or two that it is his intention to plead the Fifth Amendment.”
Avenatti was asserting that if the lawsuit did move forward, Cohen planned to plead the Fifth. He also argued that if Cohen pleaded the Fifth, it would strengthen his legal argument for getting the chance to depose Trump.