Michael Cohen Denies Claim by Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer That He Intends to Invoke His Fifth Amendment Rights

This cheat has been updated throughout.

A lawyer for Michael Cohen denied Thursday evening that the longtime Trump consigliere intended to invoke the Fifth Amendment in an attempt to stay Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit, as Daniels’ lawyer had told MSNBC earlier in the day. “On Monday we had a raid” of Cohen’s office by federal prosecutors reportedly looking for materials related to the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels in 2016, Michael Avenatti said. “Today, we find out that it is his intention to plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination in response to any questions that I may pose to him in connection in connection with our case.” He appeared to be referring to a filing hours before in a California federal court, where the parties informed the judge that an application to delay the case would be filed the following day “on the grounds that an ongoing criminal investigation overlaps with the facts of this case, and implicates defendant Michael Cohen’s Fifth Amendment rights.” But attorney Brent Blakely, who’s representing Cohen in Daniels’ lawsuit, told The Daily Beast: “The statements by Mr. Avenatti are not accurate and continue to be reckless—no decision has been made for Mr. Cohen to assert his Fifth Amendment rights. No questions have even been posed. The civil case filed by Stephanie Clifford involves issues that overlap with a pending criminal investigation. It is common for a civil case to be stayed under these circumstances, and that is what we will be requesting of the U.S. district court tomorrow. We remain confident in the merits of the case and believe that once the stay is lifted, Ms. Clifford’s frivolous defamation claim against Mr. Cohen will be dismissed, and the rest of the case will be compelled to arbitration.”