In a rare recent win for Michael Cohen, Judge S. James Otero granted President Trump’s beleaguered attorney a 90-day stay in the Stormy Daniels case on Friday.
Because of the FBI raid on his home and office, Cohen told the court he would be forced to plead the Fifth if the lawsuit about the money he allegedly paid to Stormy Daniels to keep silent about her alleged affair with Donald Trump proceeded with no delay.
“He argued he wouldn’t be able to effectively defend himself in the Stormy case, because anything he said could incriminate him with the feds,” TMZ reported.
A status conference to determine the status of the 90-day stay will take place on July 27, according to LawNewz. Ten days before that, a joint report is scheduled to be issued on the state of the criminal proceedings against Cohen.
“There’s a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr. Cohen’s 5th Amendment rights,” wrote Judge Otero in his order.
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, voiced his disagreement with the decision on Twitter:
While we certainly respect Judge Otero’s 90 day stay order based on Mr. Cohen’s pleading of the 5th, we do not agree with it. We will likely be filing an immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit early next week. Justice delayed is justice denied. #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 27, 2018