An attorney for President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, accused porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer in federal court on Wednesday of leaking Cohen’s bank records, calling it a “drive-by shooting of my client’s rights.”
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded, “We did not do anything improper relating to the release of any information concerning Mr. Cohen.”
Cohen, who attended Wednesday’s hearing before US District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan, is under investigation by federal prosecutors regarding his business dealings. Cohen has not been charged with any crime.
Cohen had asked Wood to deny Avenatti permission to appear before the federal court, saying the porn star’s lawyer violated court rules by making what he characterized as false statements about Cohen in frequent news media appearances.
Wood did not immediately rule on whether Avenatti would have a formal role in the case.
But she told Avenatti she would not give him a platform “where you’re free to denigrate Mr. Cohen and, I believe, potentially, deprive him of a fair trial by tainting a jury pool” if criminal charges were ever brought against Cohen.
- Reuters
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