Attorney Michael Cohen is surrounded by photographers as he walks down the sidewalk, Wednesday, April 11, 2018, in New York. Federal agents who raided the office of Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, were looking for information about payments to a former Playboy playmate and a porn actress who claim to have had affairs with Trump, two people familiar with the investigation said. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

I sort of feel like taking a shower with Ajax and steel wool then sticking a soup spoon in my own eye for writing this, but I guess news is news.

Backstory. Michael Cohen who is Donald Trump’s personal lawyer is being sued by porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen, who is totally a mensch, ponied up $130K of his own cash to convince Stormy not to talk about an alleged tryst between her and Donald Trump twelve years ago. Now Daniels wants out of the non-disclosure agreement and she wants to be paid for people saying mean things about her. (A pause her for commentary on aging. There was a time when once you’d owned the title “porn star” there was very little that could be said to defame you, but I digress.)

Today, Cohen filed a statement with the court saying he plans to take the Fifth.

“Based on the advice of counsel, I will assert my 5th amendment rights in connection with all proceeding in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” Cohen said in a court filing Wednesday.

Cohen said the FBI raids earlier this month on his residence, office and hotel room — and the ongoing criminal probe they represent — are behind the decision not to offer testimony in the California lawsuit.

I don’t know how these things work, but I would imagine that the civil suit takes a backseat to criminal proceedings. If so:

https://youtu.be/K3FAnvATfrM