Trump’s Cohen comments raise questions about relationship

Cohen paid Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 days before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. He now faces a series of legal actions, including an effort from Daniels to invalidate the nondisclosure deal. There’s also a criminal investigation of Cohen in New York, which prompted the recent FBI raid.

Trump has previously denied any knowledge of the payment. The White House has consistently denied the affair.

While Trump may have increased the chances that his communications with Cohen on the subject of Daniels are subject to attorney-client privilege by acknowledging that he was being represented by Cohen on the matter, he may also have undermined arguments that large quantities of other seized materials are subject to the privilege by claiming Cohen handled little of his legal work.

Either way, said trial attorney Joseph Cammarata, he would be better off speaking less.

“The more you say, the more you have an opportunity to be cross-examined on it,” said Cammarata, who represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Bill Clinton. “You can’t get hurt by words you don’t speak.”

Judge Kimba Wood said Thursday that she was appointing a former Manhattan federal judge to help determine what materials seized in the FBI raids are subject to attorney-client privilege. The judge noted that the government and Cohen’s lawyers agreed that a “special master” was the best way to determine which materials should or shouldn’t be off-limits to federal investigators.

Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ attorney, asked the court for permission to be part of the case to determine if there are any materials showing that Daniels’ previous lawyer, who negotiated her confidentiality agreement, violated attorney-client privilege in communications with Cohen. The judge gave prosecutors time to review the motion after Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas McKay told her that so far there was “really no evidence” that Cohen received privileged information about Daniels.

Trump’s comment that Cohen represented him in the Daniels matter seemed potentially at odds with his past denial of knowledge about the payment.

Avenatti tweeted that Trump and Cohen “previously represented to the American people that Mr. Cohen acted on his own and Mr. Trump knew nothing about the agreement with my client, the $130k payment, etc. As I predicted, that has now been shown to be completely false.”

Trump’s anger over the case has increased in recent weeks as the legal pressure on Cohen mounts. While the president is said to be increasingly worried about the materials seized in the raid and whether Cohen would consider co-operating with prosecutors, he insisted Thursday that the probe was related to Cohen’s business and said “I’ve been told I’m not involved.”

Avenatti told the AP on Thursday, “This is going to add considerable momentum to our effort to depose the president and place him under oath in an effort to discover which version of the facts is accurate.”

Cohen is also dealing with a civil case filed by Daniels, who is seeking to invalidate the confidentiality agreement she signed before the election. He said Wednesday that he would assert his constitutional right against self-incrimination in that case. Daniels is also suing Cohen, alleging defamation.

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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

Catherine Lucey And Tom Hays, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Trump’s Cohen comments raise questions about relationship

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