New York - 30 May 2018

1. Federal court exterior

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels:

"It is clear from today's proceedings that Mr. Cohen and his attorneys are hell bent on continuing to hide the truth from the American people. As a result of our efforts there was a shocking admission that was made in court today. Namely, that just like the Nixon tapes years ago, we now have what I will refer to as 'The Trump Tapes.' Mr. Ryan admitted that there are audio recordings that Michael Cohen was taking for years and that those recordings are, to quote him, 'not only do they exist, but they are under lock and key' and some of them relate to my client and her attorney-client privilege communications."

3. Michael Cohen, President Trump's attorney, exits federal court

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels:

Reporter: "Are you disappointed by what went down?"

Avenatti: "No, I'm not disappointed at all. In fact, I think that today will become a seminal moment in our nation's modern history because we have an admission that the attorney for the president of the United States was recording conversations for years on end and those recordings were seized by the FBI and they presently exist. And I think that when those recordings are disclosed, they're going to pose a host of problems for Michael Cohen and for the president."

5. Camera crews

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels:

Reporter: "Why do you think the tapes that are under lock and key just pertain to your client?"

Avenatti: "No, we know they don't pertain just to my client because Mr. Ryan by his comments, if you to go back, I was listening very carefully, he made it clear that there's multiple tapes and some of them relate to my client, not all of them, but some of them and our understanding is that there's many, many audio recordings that for whatever reason Michael Cohen created and then kept and ultimately they will be his downfall and they may be the downfall of this president."

7. Avenatti walking, surrounded by media

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels:

"We've done nothing wrong relating to the release of information. We're not under any investigation. Any claim to the contrary is a bunch of nonsense and is brought by people that don't want the information released to each of you and don't want information released to the American people. We live in a democracy, we live in a free society where people have an expectation of receiving information timely and accurately. This isn't Russia."

9. Federal court exterior

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels:

"No, I don't think she put a gag order on me. I think that she's trying to balance various interests and look, my job is to protect my client, advocate for my client and my client's all about the disclosure of truth, speaking truth to power and disclosing evidence to the American and we're going to keep doing what we do."

11. Avenatti walking, surrounded by media

Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels, says audio recordings made by President Trump's attorney Michael Cohen will "pose a host of problems for Michael Cohen and for the president."

Avenatti's comments came after a New York judge set a June 15 deadline for lawyers for Trump's personal lawyer and Trump to make attorney-client privilege claims over data seized in April raids, saying it was important not to delay the criminal investigation.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood said a special taint team of prosecutors will make determinations after that date.

Wood presided over a hearing at which a prosecutor revealed that the contents of a shredder and two Blackberry devices were all that remained to be turned over to a court-appointed special master screening evidence for attorney-client privilege.

Avenatti says the data does involve Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. Daniels has said she had sex once with Trump in 2006. Trump denies it.

Also reviewing the materials are lawyers for Cohen, the president and the Trump Organization.

Cohen's lawyers asked to be allowed to review materials from the April 9 raids of Cohen's office and home until mid-July, but Wood said she had to balance their needs to protect their client with the need of prosecutors to pursue their criminal fraud case against Cohen.

Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, argued that Avenatti had acted outrageously by releasing banking information related to Cohen publicly and by criticizing Cohen in dozens of television appearances.

Avenatti defended his actions to reporters outside the court.

Wood noted that Avenatti would have to stop making comments about his perception of what he believed was wrongdoing by Cohen if he wanted to formally intervene in Cohen's efforts to protect materials seized from violations of attorney-client privilege.

After the hearing, Avenatti formally withdrew his request to appear in the case.

The raids on Cohen were triggered in part by a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, who separately is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.