April 25 (UPI) — Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, plans to assert his Fifth Amendment rights in a federal case involving adult film star Stormy Daniels, court documents filed Wednesday indicate.
Cohen said he won’t self incriminate in the California-based case because he is under active investigation by the FBI in a separate case in New York. Investigators raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel April 9 and seized documents and communications.
Prosecutors said Cohen was “being investigated for criminal conduct that largely centers on his personal business dealings.”
In March, Daniels, birth name Stephanie Clifford, filed a lawsuit against Trump and Cohen in U.S. District Court in California. The original suit sought to nullify a hush agreement over an alleged fair between the actor and the president. She said the agreement was void because Trump never signed it.
An amendment in the suit accused Cohen of defamation for denying her allegations of an affair with Trump before his presidency.
“It was reasonably understood Mr. Cohen meant to convey that Ms. [Stephanie] Clifford is a liar,” the complaint states. “Mr. Cohen made the statement knowing it was false or had serious doubts about the truth of the statements.”
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement in 2016, weeks before Election Day. He said the money came from his own pockets, not Trump’s.
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