A judge put a stay on Stormy's lawsuit for 90 days.

[BigmanPigman]

due to Cohen pleading the 5th. Her attorney is already making a filing against the decision.

Will this nightmare for the country ever end?????

[Hortensis]

1. Nightmare? Nah. We're all in it for the long haul anyway.

Be sure to thank the conservatives you run into before you run out of gratitude.

But this does seem to finally be a bump in what her attorney said has been a wonderfully smooth road where everything was going their way.

[Sophia4]

5. Not necessarily a problem.

Avenatti will be able to deal with this.

[Hortensis]

8. A new hero. :) He does come over well,

but I'm sure he hates to lose momentum with the press, even if it does open up time to tend to other business back home.

[Sophia4]

10. He is just a lawyer who loves his job.

[Hortensis]

18. He should be. He'd be my choice if needed and could.

Reminds me of an extremely attractive man who just walked up to me in a hallway, leaned over, and looked deeply into my eyes. When I came to I learned he'd been my anesthetist. Four decades ago and I've never forgotten him, though. Sigh...

[jberryhill]

2. In what way is this lawsuit a "nightmare for the country"?

Whether or not this proceeding results in invalidating the hush agreement with Stormy Daniels, I'm not sure what the consequences of national importance would be either way.

[Ferrets are Cool]

11. I didn't read it the way you did.

To me it read as the nightmare being tRump. When will THAT ever end. But the OP can speak for themselves.

[jberryhill]

12. I guess so...

...but whether Daniels is or is not released from the alleged agreement is not a question of national importance.

[BigmanPigman]

14. That IS what I meant...

I thought it was evident that was what I was referring to.

[awesomerwb1]

26. It -was- pretty evident. nt

[Hortensis]

16. Yes. About 5 in a 100 or so watch political news.

Most prefer the slicks of peanut-butter coverage that join news and weather as fillings between the thick slabs of commercials in the evening news.

[triron]

3. Damn! Someone pay off the judge?

[jberryhill]

6. here's the ruling

Why do you believe that it would require bribing a judge to obtain a 90 day stay?

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.704250/gov.uscourts.cacd.704250.53.0.pdf

" It is also quite possible that the
outcome of the criminal inves
tigation will benefit the parties
and the Court by streamlining the
issues and questions presented in this action.
Accordingly, the interests of judicial efficiency
weigh in favor of a temporary stay. "

Believe it or not, the interest of the court per se in a matter is simply finding the most efficient way of disposing of it. What the court is essentially saying here is that letting the criminal proceeding go forward for a while might lead to a shorter path for dealing with this civil lawsuit.

[manor321]

19. Asinine ruling

What a goddamned joke. The criminal case is going to drag on and on and on as the lawyers try to slow it down. They already inserted a special master into the thing to slow it down. A 90 day wait just makes Stormy wait even longer for justice. It's disgusting.

[jberryhill]

25. It depends on what Cohen gets indicted for

At this point, we really don't know what, specifically, was the crime for which probable cause led to the search. While a whole lot of stuff was included in the scope of the search, it is a fairly binary decision of "they found what they were looking for" or "they didn't".

As far as "waiting for justice", Judge Otero addressed that during the hearing. The only thing that Daniels is seeking (in the part of the complaint that won't be separated out by SLAPP) is a declaration that the contract was invalid, so that she can get out from under enforcement of the arbitration decision. Since enforcement of the arbitration decision is, as a consequence of this suit, itself tied up, it's not as if she has to pay whatever it was.

But the notion that she remains effectively prohibited from telling her story, is sort of a matter of horses that have long left the barn. She engaged in a, what shall we say, liaison, with Trump in Tahoe, communicated with him periodically over whether she could get onto The Apprentice, watched Shark Week in LA without any sex, and further states that she was threatened in 2011 (and has released a sketch of the suspect, who is long subject to the statute of limitations civilly or criminally). The formation of the agreement itself was something of a joke, she got the money, and when she started dropping hints about it in January, Cohen threatened to enforce the agreement unless she signed a denial. She signed the denial, continued to be ambiguous, and Cohen got an arbitration award in February. Subsequently, this suit was filed. The story is pretty well fleshed out, right down to a slap on the tighty whities.

If the idea is that this delays any sort of monetary judgment in her favor, I'm not sure where that comes from. The first consequence of a ruling that the contract was invalid is that she would have to pay back the $130k. You can't claim that a contract under which you got paid $130k is invalid, and then claim you are entitled to keep the money under the contract.

McDougal - who had a longer and more involved relationship with Trump - has already settled that suit and is free to talk. She's not really doing a whole lot of talking, because she is likewise in talks with a publisher who is actually going to publish this time.

[Kirk Lover]

4. Ok well that is 90 days to torture RUMP with this. We are ready when you are Avenetti...cause you

best believe he has ACES up his sleeve.

[dem4decades]

7. It does seem Stormy's rights have taken a back seat

I hope she still gets to seek justice from Trump.

[cilla4progress]

9. I believe I heard Avenatti say

He expected this, though opposed it in his filings.

I’ve also heard better to unseat trump after Dems take the House this fall, rather than while Rs are in charge and can install Pence.

Makes sense to me.

[maxsolomon]

15. How would the Dems prevent Pence from becoming President?

Impeach them both?

Be realistic. 2/3 of the Senate need to convict. It's never happened.

[cilla4progress]

21. Slow walk and

Foot drag. Take advantage of any opening.

Not to mention Pence is implicated. Investigate, Benghazi-style. Throw mud and see what sticks.

Get creative.

[maxsolomon]

13. You're expecting Daniel's lawsuit to end Trump's Presidency?

You'd better gird your loins. We've only just started.

At this point, I put Trump's odds of re-election >50%, and the chance of his Impeachment and Conviction anytime during his 2 terms at 0%.

The odds of him suspending the Constitution to remain President in 2024 are better than his Impeachment.

We're on the verge of an Autocracy, not the salvation of our Republic.

[0rganism]

24. exactly.

lots of pollyanna posts around here about how Democrats are going to fix everything once we "fer shure guaranteed" win the house in 2018. i have a strong sense that we are in for an exceedingly rude awakening.

[lunatica]

17. This is not going to stop Avenatti

As fast and flexible as he is to jump on opportunities he’s just as able to absorb any setbacks. His reactions are quick and fluid. It’s quite interesting to watch.

[hatrack]

20. Which puts it about 100 days before the election . . .

[cilla4progress]

22. Also the Judge, Otero,

Stated in open court it appears Cohen will be indicted!

[NightWatcher]

23. Due to overlap with criminal prosecution and "likely" Cohen indictment

This doesn't sound too good for Cohen.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/27/trump-stormy-daniels-case-delay-558294

U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero said it appeared “likely” that Cohen would be indicted in connection with the ongoing investigation, which led to search warrant raids on Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in New York earlier this month.

[onecaliberal]

27. What does cohens criminal activity in another care have any bearing on her due process?

[BigmanPigman]

28. I've been watching CNN and MSNBC

and am trying to understand the legal lingo. From what I have gathered from people who understand the law the judges are making pretty understandable and realistic decisions. It sure is confusing though.

[onecaliberal]

29. Yes. I'm confused with this whole thing. I thought they were separate.