--- title: Michael Avenatti Withdraws Motion in Michael Cohen Case description: A federal judge told Michael Avenatti he had to end his publicity tour if he wanted to represent Stormy Daniels. So he dropped the case. canonical: https://time.com/5295578/michael-avenatti-dropped-stormy-daniels-case-end-publicity-tour/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-30T19:53:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T19:37:09.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Avenatti Withdraws Motion in Michael Cohen Probe og:description: He will not represent Stormy Daniels in the Michael Cohen probe. og:url: https://time.com/5295578/michael-avenatti-dropped-stormy-daniels-case-end-publicity-tour/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6db6ea6e40dc8787/698931e17cdbac1e08d5d066/avenatti-cohen-court-stormy-daniels-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Avenatti-cohen-court-stormy-daniels-trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Avenatti Withdraws Motion in Michael Cohen Probe twitter:description: He will not represent Stormy Daniels in the Michael Cohen probe. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6db6ea6e40dc8787/698931e17cdbac1e08d5d066/avenatti-cohen-court-stormy-daniels-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stormy Daniels' Attorney Drops Motion to Represent Her in Michael Cohen Probe > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=86bbb1dd-e1dc-4316-9c6b-fdbccb0ddd48&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:37 PM UTCPublished: May 30, 2018 7:53 PM UTC  Right: Michael Avenatti, lawyer of adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, arrives at federal court in New York; Left: Michael Cohen, personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives at federal court in New York Right: Michael Avenatti, lawyer of adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, arrives at federal court in New York; Left: Michael Cohen, personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives at federal court in New York Getty Images (2)  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:37 PM UTCPublished: May 30, 2018 7:53 PM UTC A federal judge gave [Michael Avenatti](http://time.com/5287837/stormy-daniels-lawyer-firm/) a choice Wednesday: If he wanted to represent his client [Stormy Daniels](http://time.com/5220087/donald-trump-underestimated-stormy-daniels/) in the federal investigation of President Donald Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen, he had to end his “publicity tour” of TV appearances and aggressive tweets about the case. Avenatti chose instead to drop the case. He was back on MSNBC talking about Cohen less than two hours later. During the hearing Wednesday, Judge Kimba Wood had told Avenatti he could only have a formal role the case if he stopped publicly denouncing Trump’s lawyer in the media because doing so could potentially taint the jury’s views in a trial. “I either want you to participate, or not be in the matter at all,” Wood told Avenatti, according to [Courthouse News](https://www.courthousenews.com/lawyer-for-stormy-daniels-paints-cohen-as-leaker-at-hearing/), who had a reporter in the hearing. “I don’t want you to have some existence in a limbo where you’re free to denigrate Mr. Cohen, and I believe potentially deprive him of a fair trial by tainting a jury pool.” In a motion, Avenatti said he would reassess his decision if there was a hearing related to Daniels. Avenatti will still represent Daniels in her lawsuit against Trump and Cohen, which was filed in Los Angeles last March, but was [delayed](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stormy-daniels-lawsuit-postponed-20180427-story.html) following the raids on Cohen’s properties last month. Daniels, a porn star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing Trump and Cohen over the nondisclosure agreement she signed related the $130,000 payment she signed before the 2016 election over her claims she had an affair with Trump. Federal investigators raided Cohen’s office, hotel and apartment last month with search warrants partially obtained after a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen came under a barrage of legal scrutiny after he conceded using personal funds to arrange the payment to Daniels just weeks before the election to prevent her from speaking out about her alleged affair with Trump. Trump subsequently admitted he had reimbursed Cohen for the payment, raising questions about campaign finance violations. [According to the Washington ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fbi-seizes-records-related-to-stormy-daniels-in-raid-of-trump-attorney-michael-cohens-office/2018/04/09/e3e43cf4-3c30-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.5e579f142abc)_Post,_ Cohen is now under investigation for bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations. In addition to his frequent appearances on cable news, Avenatti [drove headlines](http://time.com/5272342/michael-cohen-essential-consultants-donald-trump-2/) three weeks ago when he tweeted information alleging Cohen had received payments of over $500,000 from a firm linked to a Russian oligarch and U.S. companies lobbying the government, including AT&T and Novartis. Although the payments were largely confirmed by three news outlets and the companies themselves, Avenatti has come under scrutiny for publicizing private documents. Cohen’s attorneys argued in court that Avenatti should not be granted involvement because he has worked to publicly taint Cohen. Avenatti told Wood he had not been accused of any improper conduct, according to Courthouse News, but she responded that he would “need to stop doing some of the things you’ve been doing.” Avenatti gave a brief statement to reporters outside the courtroom once the hearing was finished, but focused on the documents that were the subject of the hearing in relation to attorney-client privilege, arguing that Cohen and his attorneys should release all audio recordings. He did not mention the judge’s order on this topic, and did not take questions from reporters immediately following the statement. When reached for comment after the hearing, Avenatti declined to say anything about that pronouncement from the judge, and told TIME he had another phone call he needed to take when asked if he would cut down on his cable news appearances. (Shortly afterwards, he appeared on MSNBC). Pressed again Wednesday afternoon by _TIME_, he said he had withdrawn the motion because it was not necessary at this time. He said he was unperturbed by Woods’ assessment, and had no plans to change his strategy. “It didn’t bother me one bit,” he said. “We’re gonna continue doing what were doing. 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