Stormy Daniels in court for FBI case against Trump
ADULT-FILM star Stormy Daniels arrived to watch a court hearing yesterday over documents seized from US President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, in a federal investigation that could cast a harsh light on Mr Trump’s business and personal dealings.
Photographers knocked over barricades as they scrambled in the streets outside the Manhattan courthouse to snap pictures of her as she arrived in a lavender-coloured skirt and jacket.
Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is entangled in a separate civil battle with the president’s lawyer, over a $130,000 (€105,000) payment made to her as part of a 2016 agreement to stop her from discussing a sexual encounter she says she had with Mr Trump a decade earlier.
Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s fiercely loyal and pugnacious lawyer, is in court to ask a judge to limit the ability of federal prosecutors to review documents seized from him last week as part of a criminal investigation.
A person familiar with the raids said last week that the information FBI agents were seeking included information about payments to Ms Daniels. As the hearing got underway, Mr Cohen sat by his lawyers, dressed in a dark suit, looking tense and clasping his hands on a table before him. Ms Daniels quietly took a seat towards the back of the public gallery with her lawyer, Michael Avenatti.
courthouse as they scrambled to get pictures of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, arriving dressed in a lavender suit. Inside, she quietly took a seat in the public gallery with her law yer.
Cohen has argued that some of the documents and data seized from him under a warrant are protected by attorney-client privilege or otherwise unconnected to the investigation. But Judge Kimba Wood rejected his efforts to mask the identity of Hannity, a client Cohen had said wanted to avoid publicity.
“I understand if he doesn’t want his name out there, but that’s not enough under the law,” Wood said, before ordering a lawyer for Cohen to disclose the name. Hannity (inset) is a conservative television host known for passionately advocating for Trump on his Fox News show, and sometimes receiving public praise from Trump in return. Cohen has asked the court to give his own lawyers the first look at the seized materials so they can identify documents that are protected by attorney-client privilege.
A lawyer for Trump, Joanna Hendon, asked in a filing on Sunday to be allowed to review documents that in any way relate to the president, which she described as being seized amid a “highly politicised, even fevered, atmosphere.”
A person familiar with the raids said last week that the information Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were seeking included information about payments to Daniels.
The hearing ended yesterday with no ruling on who gets to filter the seized documents.