Times Colonist

Trump’s ex-lawyer seeks gag order against porn actor

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LOS ANGELES — U.S. President Donald Trump’s former longtime personal lawyer says porn actress Stormy Daniels’ attorney is running a “smear campaign” against him and insists that a federal judge must step in and issue a gag order, according to court documents filed Monday.

An attorney for Michael Cohen — Trump’s former personal lawyer — argues in the documents that because Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, frequently appears in television interviews and tweets about the case almost daily, his comments are “aimed at tainting the jury pool.”

Cohen’s attorney, Brent Blakely, argues that a restrainin­g order that would prevent Avenatti from speaking with reporters and releasing informatio­n about the case to the public is necessary to ensure his client receives a fair trial.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had sex with Trump in 2006 when he was married, which Trump has denied. She’s suing Trump and Cohen and seeking to invalidate a nondisclos­ure agreement that she signed days before the 2016 presidenti­al election.

In April, FBI agents raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room as part of a probe into his business dealings, and investigat­ors were seeking records surroundin­g the $130,000 US payment that was made to Daniels as part of a confidenti­ality agreement.

Avenatti has argued a gag order isn’t necessary and the request is a “complete joke.” A hearing is set for this month.

In response to Monday’s court filing, Avenatti tweeted: “If Michael Cohen and his attorney Brent Blakely are so concerned about media attention that they are seeking to keep me from speaking the truth to the press via a gag order, then why did Cohen give an interview to … ABC News’ George Stephanopo­ulos?

“They like press, just not the truth,” he wrote.

Cohen told Stephanopo­ulos in an off-camera interview reported on Monday’s Good Morning America that protecting Trump is no longer his top priority.

“I put family and country first,” Cohen said.

Cohen, who hasn’t been charged, wouldn’t say whether he would co-operate with prosecutor­s in the probe into Russian influence in the 2016 U.S. presidenti­al election. But he also did nothing to dampen such speculatio­n, taking issue with some of Trump’s criticisms of the special counsel’s Russia investigat­ion and even going out of his way to praise the FBI.

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