Life gets worse every day for Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. After his office and hotel room were raided by the FBI in search of documents that may lead to charges of bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and wire fraud, he is facing two judges this week in separate but related cases with lawyers who don’t seem to be handling his case very well.
Attorney Brent Blakely, who is representing Cohen in the lawsuit brought by Stormy Daniels (aka Stephanie Clifford) to release her from a non-disclosure agreement she says is invalid, requested a 90-day stay on the case since “Cohen may be indicted in 90 days” and his testimony in the lawsuit could incriminate him in the separate criminal case. Senior Congressional Correspondent for CNN Manu Raju described the exchange in court on his Twitter feed.
Michael Cohen lawyer Brent Blakely asking for delay in Stormy lawsuit against Cohen because, he said, Cohen could be indicted within 90 days. "That's what @MichaelAvenatti is saying," Blakely told court. The search warrant of Cohen property, Blakely said, references $130K payment
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 20, 2018
Blakely attempted to point to statements made to the press and on social media by Clifford’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who has alluded to much larger legal issues looming for Cohen. While Judge Otero did not deny the request outright, he also didn’t seem impressed by it, saying the request had some “gaping holes.”
Always a bad sign when the judge tells you that your motion has “gaping holes in it,” as the judge told the attys for MC and DJT this AM. I don’t know why they continue to hide what they know about the FBI raids. Time to come clean and let the chips fall where they may. #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 20, 2018
Reuters reports that:
‘At a hearing in Los Angeles federal court, U.S. District Judge James Otero said he needed more time to review Cohen’s and Trump’s request to put Daniels’ case on hold for 90 days.
‘But the judge told Cohen’s lawyer Brent Blakely that “there’s some gaping holes” in the request for a stay.’
While Blakely’s request did not appear to go over well with the judge, it’s not an unlikely possibility. Evidence is still being examined in the criminal case against him and indictments could very well be handed down anytime.
Featured image via Getty/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ
