Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against Michael Cohen is on hold pending his criminal investigation

Stormy Daniels with her attorney, Michael Avenatti

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

last updated 28 April 2018

A judge on Friday ordered a 90-day delay for the lawsuit adult film star Stormy Daniels has brought against President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero ruled that because Cohen is likely to face criminal investigation following an FBI raid on his New York office earlier in April, his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in the criminal case — which Cohen intends to exercise — would be jeopardized by his testimony in the civil case brought by Daniels.

"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," Otero wrote in his decision. "This is no simple criminal investigation; it is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting president regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege. Whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favor of stay."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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