Stormy Daniels lawsuit against Donald Trump put on hold for three months
Porn actress Stormy Daniels has seen her lawsuit against Donald Trump and his lawyer put on hold for three months.
Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is seeking to dissolve a confidentiality agreement preventing her from discussing her alleged affair with the US President.
She is also suing Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, alleging defamation.
Her legal action was suspended for 90 days by US District Judge S James Otero at the request of Mr Cohen, who is now facing a criminal investigation linked to the allegations.
Mr Cohen's house was earlier this month raided by FBI agents looking for records about a nondisclosure agreement Ms Daniels signed days before the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Cohen's lawyer has argued that because the criminal investigation overlaps with issues in the lawsuit, the civil action should be paused.
He argued that to continue would impact Mr Cohen's right against self-incrimination could be adversely impacted because he would not be able to respond and defend himself.
Mr Otero agreed, ruling that "there is a large potential factual overlap between the civil and criminal proceedings that would heavily implicate Mr Cohen's Fifth Amendment rights".
Ms Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted that he would likely be filing an immediate appeal of Mr Otero's ruling with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We do not agree with it," Mr Avenatti wrote. "Justice delayed is justice denied."
While Mr Otero agreed with Mr Avenatti that Mr Cohen's argument for delay was made weaker without an indictment being filed against him, "the significance of the FBI raid can't be understated."
"This is no simple criminal investigation," Mr Otero wrote. "It is an investigation into the personal attorney of a sitting president regarding documents that might be subject to the attorney-client privilege."
He continued to say that "whether or not an indictment is forthcoming, and the court thinks it is likely based on these facts alone, these unique circumstances counsel in favour of stay."
Mr Otero also ruled that Ms Daniels' would not be substantially impacted by a delay, writing that she "has already appeared on at least two national shows ... to tell her alleged story".
"The court agrees that (Ms Daniels) has not established that she has actually been deterred from speaking, or that a delay in proceedings would cause undue prejudice," he wrote.
Ms Daniels was paid $130,000 by Mr Cohen as part of a nondisclosure agreement, but says that Mr Trump was not a party to the arrangement and was never informed.
Mr Trump answered questions about Ms Daniels for the first time earlier this month and said he had no knowledge of the payment made by Mr Cohen and did not know where Mr Cohen had got the money. The White House has repeatedly said Mr Trump denies the affair.
Mr Trump said on Thursday that Mr Cohen handles very little of his legal work, but did represent him in the "crazy Stormy Daniels deal".
Mr Cohen's lawyers have accused Ms Daniels of violating the confidentiality clauses more than 20 times and said she could be liable for one million dollar in damages for each violation.