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A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday formally dismissed porn actress Stormy Daniels' defamation claim against Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer. The civil allegation against Cohen was tossed "with prejudice," meaning that it's permanently done and Trump's one-time lawyer will "no longer face the threat of further litigation in this court or any other forum," according to the order by U.S. District Court Judge James Otero. Daniels' legal team had previously asked Otero, back in November, to dismiss a defamation claim against the president's lawyer. "We asked that the minor defamation claim be dismissed and it was,"...

Michael Avenatti will attend the congressional testimony by President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen along with porn actress and alleged Trump mistress Stormy Daniels. Avenatti said on Twitter that Daniels was the original spark to Cohen’s legal troubles and the two will be in attendance when he appears before the House Oversight Committee next month. “I am pleased to announce that @StormyDaniels and I will attend the congressional hearing when Cohen testifies. Which is only appropriate seeing as it would have never happened but for @StormyDaniels,” Avenatti wrote.

Indicting Trump on campaign finance charges is a Democratic revenge fantasy. The most legally fraught part of the Russia probe now revolves around payments to an American porn star. As of yet, instead of a dastardly scheme to participate with the Russians in the hacking of Democratic emails to subvert the election, prosecutors have uncovered a dastardly scheme to try to keep from the voters — as if they weren’t aware — that Trump is a womanizer. The advantage of the story of the hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal is that they actually happened, and always passed...

the grounds for saying Trump broke a law are laughably flimsy. The argument is that since the hush money was paid to “influence” the election, it was a campaign expenditure. But by that logic, every dime Chris Christie spent to lose weight before his 2016 run — the diet books, the StairMaster, the bariatric surgery — was a campaign expenditure. If Christie bought a SlimFast shake with his personal money, was he a felon? Former Federal Election Commissioner Bradley Smith posited another hypothetical: “If a business owner ran for political office and decided to pay bonuses to his employees in...

FULL TITLE: Trump Paid Stormy Himself. Congress Paid Its Victims $17 Million out of Treasury. Who’re the Real Criminals? The one person who seemed to sum up the Democrats’ reaction to Michael Cohen’s guilty plea — and subsequent allegations against President Donald Trump — was Rep. Jerry Nadler. There’s long been speculation that the New York Democrat is considering impeachment hearings against Trump and anyone around him regardless of what the evidence might entail. A report from the day after the midterms had the powerful ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee ranting on a train about impeaching Supreme Court...

Stormy Daniels, the adult film actor who claims she had an affair with Donald Trump 12 years ago, has said her lawyer sued the president this year without her permission and has not been transparent about money raised on her behalf via an online fundraising appeal. In a statement given to the Daily Beast, Daniels said Michael Avenatti “has been a great advocate in many ways” but he “has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client”. She said she had not decided “what to do about legal representation moving forward”. Daniels has...

Stormy Daniels said Wednesday that her attorney Michael Avenatti filed her defamation lawsuit against President Trump without telling her. The porn star who claims to have had a brief affair with Mr. Trump also said she has seen none of the crowdfunding money that Mr. Avenatti has raised on her behalf and that he even started a second such campaign without her knowledge.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels said she'll fire her attorney Michael Avenatti if the domestic abuse allegations against him prove true. Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse on Wednesday. He denies the allegations. Daniels also cautioned that "we should all reserve judgement" until the investigation is complete. Avenatti represents Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen. Daniels says she had an affair with Trump in 2006....

The Donald Trump sex scandal has “completely destroyed” Stormy Daniels’ writing and directing career, the adult film actress told members of the Oxford Union debating society Thursday evening. The political “shitshow" of the last ten months left her with no capacity to write movies—her favorite part of working in porn—she said during an event entitled "Sex, Guns and Other Fluff: How Porn Can Set You Free." But Daniels—real name Stephanie Clifford—vowed to keep working in the adult film world. Although she was on "an unofficial break" from writing and directing, she said she certainly hadn't retired. "I'll probably never leave...

Cue the world’s smallest violin for Stormy Daniels, the stage name used by Stephanie Clifford when she took off her clothes and had sex with strangers to sate the urges of pornography addicts. According to a report in Newsweek by Katherine Hignett, Ms. Clifford, with no trace of irony and no heed for contradicting herself in the same speech, told a crowd primarily composed of students at the Oxford Union: The Donald Trump sex scandal has “completely destroyed” Stormy Daniels’ writing and directing career, the adult film actress told members of the Oxford Union debating society Thursday evening. The political...

In the wake of domestic violence charges filed against Michael Avenatti, his client, adult film star Stormy Daniels, cautioned Thursday against jumping to conclusions while also adding that she’ll find a new attorney if the accusations are found to be accurate. [snip] “These are serious and obviously very troubling allegations, but right now that is all they are: allegations,” Daniels told the outlet. “We should all reserve judgment until the investigation—an investigation Michael has said he welcomes—is complete, and that’s what I’m going to do." “But of course I do not condone violence against women and if these allegations prove...

Michael Avenatti was reportedly arrested for domestic violence after an incident with his estranged wife. Avenatti, a lawyer for Donald Trump’s alleged mistress Stormy Daniels, was taken into custody in Los Angeles Wednesday for allegedly leaving his wife’s face “swollen and bruised,” according to TMZ. The incident originally took place on Tuesday but LAPD responded to the address Wednesday where Avenatti could be heard saying “She hit me first, This is bullsh–,” the website reported.

Michael Avenatti, who became famous for representing Stormy Daniels in her battle with President Trump, has been arrested for felony domestic violence ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ. Our law enforcement sources say Avenatti was arrested Wednesday after his estranged wife filed a felony DV report. We're told her face was "swollen and bruised." Our sources say the alleged incident occurred Tuesday, but there was a confrontation Wednesday between the two at an exclusive apartment building in the Century City area of L.A. We're told during Wednesday's confrontation the woman ran out of the apartment building and was on the...

As a presidential candidate in August 2015, Donald Trump huddled with a longtime friend, media executive David Pecker, in his cluttered 26th floor Trump Tower office and made a request. What can you do to help my campaign? he asked, according to people familiar with the meeting

If you want to feed on fake news, be bombarded by endless praise-filled coverage of scoundrels whose fame is undeserved, and listen to just plain idiocy, keep watching television news. With the latest conviction of former media star Michael Avenatti, I’ve made my case. Not only does the story of his rise and fall illustrate my point, but the failure of the media that gave him so much praise and coverage is not the end of it. Their lack of curiosity about his funding, even to this day, further condemns them as mere propagandists for the Left. At present he’s...

Opening statements are set to start Monday in Manhattan in a third criminal case against Michael Avenatti, the once high-flying celebrity lawyer who rose to fame by representing adult-film star Stormy Daniels in her bid to terminate a hush-money deal that silenced her allegations of an affair with former President Donald Trump. The former lawyer, a pugnacious Trump critic who once considered a presidential run of his own, fell from grace after being hit with three federal indictments in a six-week period in 2019. Prosecutors allege that Avenatti -- who helped negotiate the $800,000 advance for her September 2018 book...

Michael Avenatti, the disgraced celebrity lawyer and fierce Donald Trump critic, is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Manhattan for allegedly swindling ex-porn star Stormy Daniels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Avenatti is accused of fleecing Daniels – his former client – of about $300,000 in money she stood to collect for a 2018 advance on a book about her alleged affair with Trump.

Stormy Daniels, the porn star who catapulted herself and Michael Avenatti to fame with lawsuits against former President Donald Trump, will have a starring role in court beginning Monday when prosecutors try to prove that the California lawyer cheated her of $300,000 in book proceeds. Her testimony in Manhattan federal court will be pivotal for prosecutors trying to prove Avenatti engaged in wire fraud and aggravated identity theft to keep from giving his client money he had received from her publisher. Opening statements are set for Monday. Daniels is not expected to testify until Tuesday, at the earliest. Avenatti, 50,...

The embezzlement trial of attorney Michael Avenatti, who is accused of stealing millions in settlement money from clients, ended in a mistrial Tuesday as U.S. District Judge James. V. Selna ruled that federal prosecutors failed to turn over relevant financial evidence to Avenatti, the Associated Press reported. The trial was the second in recent months for Avenatti, who captured the nation's attention when he represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against then-President Donald Trump. Selna scheduled a tentative new trial date for October 12 and another hearing is set for September 2. In July, Avenatti was sentenced...

Broke would be an improvement for Michael Avenatti.The jail-bound lawyer who once took on former President Donald Trump is so impoverished that he sleeps on an air mattress at a friend’s house and can’t get a dime from anyone in his family, a newly unsealed court filing reveals.With mountainous debt and restitution demands, the once-brash lawyer said in the financial document from July 2020 that he’s beyond broke.