Why Donald Trump and Michael Cohen are losing this so badly

| 3:15 pm EDT May 9, 2018
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Yesterday, Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti released banking records for Donald Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen, which revealed that Cohen received a half million dollar payment from a Russian oligarch shortly after he paid off Daniels. Avenatti also released records revealing that AT&T paid Cohen “consulting” money in order to cozy up to Trump. The big question is how Avenatti managed to get Cohen’s banking records. The answer reveals why Trump and Cohen are losing this so badly.

Avenatti isn’t dumb, so we know he didn’t obtain Cohen’s banking records illegally and then release them publicly. The only way he could realistically have gotten his hands on these records is through the discovery process in the lawsuit between Daniels and Cohen. In a normal lawsuit, you’re probably hurting your chances of winning if you take evidence from the case and make it public before the trial even takes place. But that’s the whole point: this isn’t a normal lawsuit.

When Stormy Daniels was on Saturday Night Live this weekend, she said it herself: she’s doing this because she wants Donald Trump’s resignation. The lawsuit is merely a vehicle for pushing Trump and Cohen to the breaking point. She doesn’t have to win in civil court in order to achieve her real goal. Trump and Cohen are both under criminal investigation, and this lawsuit is serving to dredge up evidence that can be used against them in criminal court. It’s also causing them to make one dumb mistake after another.

So if Stormy Daniels’ attorney received Michael Cohen’s incriminating bank records as a result of the lawsuit, it doesn’t matter that he made them public. Her primary goal isn’t to win the suit anyway. She’s playing a game where she can’t lose, even as Trump and Cohen are looking at half a dozen different ways in which this lawsuit can cost them a whole lot more than the lawsuit. It’s why Daniels and Avenatti can do whatever they want – and it’s why Trump and Cohen are losing so badly.