FBI Raid On Trump Attorney's Office Tied to Stormy Daniels Case

LOS ANGELES, CA — Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels is making another bid to force President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer to answer questions about the alleged affair between the porn star and the president, and the hush money paid to her. At the same time federal agents raided the longtime officer of the president's personal attorney and fixer, in part, looking for material related to the Daniels case.

Daniels' attorney refiled a request Sunday to depose President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer about the allegations and a $130,000 payment she received under a non-disclosure pact shortly before the election. The motions came a day before federal investigators raided the offices of Trump's longtime attorney and fixer Michael D. Cohen reportedly seeking documents related to the Daniels payout in addition to many other Trump-related files.

In a 64-page motion filed Sunday in federal court in Los Angeles, attorney Michael Avenatti restated many of the allegations he made in an earlier pleading that was rejected by a judge as premature. Last week, however, attorneys for Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, filed a motion to force the case into private arbitration — an attempt Avenatti claims opened the door for him to re-file his request for depositions.

"Now that a motion to compel arbitration has been filed, as plaintiff predicted, and plaintiff's return date on the motion has arrived, plaintiff's motion is ripe for decision," Avenatti wrote in the motion.

In the court papers, Avenatti requests depositions of no more than two hours of Trump and Cohen. He said the depositions and associated requests for documents are essential to oppose efforts to force the case into arbitration. As such, he asked a judge to put the Trump/Cohen arbitration motion on hold until a decision is reached on the deposition requests.

The White House has repeatedly denied Daniels' allegations that she and Trump had an affair beginning in 2006, shortly after the birth of his son, Barron. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One last week, Trump denied any knowledge of the $130,000 Daniels was paid by Cohen after she signed a non-disclosure agreement in October 2016, days before the presidential election.

Asked why Cohen made the payment, Trump responded, "You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael."

Trump also said he did not know where the money came from.

That denial gave Avenatti ammunition in his effort to void the nondisclosure pact and its requirement that the dispute be handled in arbitration.

“If Mr. Trump was completely unaware of Mr. Cohen’s actions, the question naturally arises as to how it would be possible for a ‘meeting of the minds’ to have occurred between parties where one of the parties does not even know about the existence of the agreement?,” he asks the judge in the filing.

Daniels claims the nondisclosure pact she signed is invalid because Trump never signed it. Daniels claims in her lawsuit that she is identified in the "hush agreement" by the pseudonym "Peggy Peterson," while Trump used the name "David Dennison."

Avenatti later amended the lawsuit to include a defamation claim against Cohen over his contentions that Daniels is lying about the affair and her contention that she was physically threatened by an unknown man after coming forward with her story.

In interviews Monday, Avenatti said he may soon release a composite sketch of the man Daniels claims threatened her. On his Twitter page Sunday, he posted a photo of Daniels working with forensic artist Lois Gibson to develop a sketch.

Avenatti has been critical of Trump's claim that he was unaware of the $130,000 payment to Daniels, suggesting that Cohen was being set up as a fall guy in the case. Cohen has admitted making the payment, but said he did so with his own money.

Cohen's lawyer, Stephen Ryan, issued a statement confirming the FBI raid, which he called "completely inappropriate and unnecessary."

"It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients," Ryan said. "These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath."

Trump also blasted the raid, saying during a meeting in Washington that agents "broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys."

"It's a disgraceful situation," Trump said. "It's a total witch hunt. I've been saying it for a long time.

"... When I saw this, when I heard about it, that is a whole new level of unfairness," he said.

In the court papers, Avenatti contends the depositions and associated requests for documents are essential to oppose efforts to force the case into arbitration. As such, he asked a judge to put the Trump/Cohen arbitration motion on hold until a decision is reached on the deposition requests.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report; Photo: Adult film actress/director Stormy Daniels attends the 2018 Adult Video News Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 27, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)