Stormy Daniels to attend court hearing of Trump’s lawyer

Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who is finding herself increasingly tied in a legal war with US President Donald Trump, was set to attend a court hearing in New York on Monday, April 16, for Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump.

Daniels's lawyer Michael Avenatti informed about this during an appearance on CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, April 15.

Originally named Stephanie Clifford, Daniels is in the midst of a legal battle with Cohen over an agreement worth $130,000 to remain silent about a sexual encounter she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. The agreement was reached in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election so that Trump was immunised from any incident that could derail his White House ambition.

Cohen is already in news over a criminal investigation connected to his business practices. Cohen's office, residence and hotel room were raided by the FBI last week during which documents and other materials were seized. The lawyer was asked to appear in a federal court in Manhattan even though his counsels were trying to stop prosecutors from reviewing the seized documents.

Avenatti posted a tweet on Friday, April 13, about Cohen's court appearance on Monday saying "weather forecast for Mon looks very Stormy".

The FBI's raids last week was also reportedly looking for information on payments to Daniels, among other materials. The action had left President Trump livid and he posted on Twitter, saying attorney-client privilege was dead.

Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He is seeking to delay Clifford's California case against him and Trump because of the criminal investigation.

When Avenatti was asked in the CNN programme whether Daniels would be present at the hearing to provoke Cohen, he said it was rather to send a message that she was taking her matter with Cohen very seriously and she wanted to make the people of America understand that she was putting her best foot forward to unearth as much information as possible.

However, though Avenatti said Daniels's presence at the court had nothing to do with making an impact on Cohen psychologically, he tweeted on Sunday morning a scene from the film 'The Godfather II' where a Mafia turncoat retracted his testimony after mafia boss Michael Corleone brought the former's own brother with him to watch the court proceedings.