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1 BLAKELY LAW GROUP BRENT H. BLAKELY (CA Bar No. 157292) 2 1334 Parkview Avenue, Suite 280 3 Manhattan Beach, California 90266 Telephone: (310) 546-7400 4 Facsimile: (310) 546-7401 5 Email: [email protected] 6 Attorneys for Defendants 7 ESSENTIAL CONSULTANTS, LLC and

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 STEPHANIE CLIFFORD a.k.a. Case No. 2:18-CV-02217-SJO-FFM 12 a.k.a. PEGGY PETERSON, an individual, DECLARATION OF BRENT H. 13 BLAKELY IN SUPPORT OF 14 Plaintiff, EX PARTE APPLICATION OF v. DEFENDANT MICHAEL COHEN 15 FOR A RESTRAINING ORDER 16 DONALD J. TRUMP a.k.a. DAVID AGAINST PLAINTIFF’S DENNISON, an individual, COUNSEL, MICHAEL AVENATTI 17 ESSENTIAL CONSULTANTS, LLC, a 18 Delaware Limited Liability Company, Assigned for All Purposes to the MICHAEL COHEN, an individual, and Hon. S. James Otero 19 DOES 1 through 10, inclusive, 20 Action Filed: March 6, 2018 Defendants. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

DECLARATION OF BRENT H. BLAKELY

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1 DECLARATION OF BRENT H. BLAKELY 2 I, Brent H. Blakely, declare: 3 1. I am an attorney duly licensed to practice before all courts of the State of 4 California and in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, among 5 other courts. I am a partner of the law firm of Blakely Law Group, counsel of record 6 for Defendant Michael Cohen (“Mr. Cohen”). I make this declaration based on my 7 own personal knowledge and, if called and sworn as a witness, I could and would 8 competently testify hereto. 9 2. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of a transcript of 10 the May 30, 2018 hearing in the matter of Michael D. Cohen v. United States of 11 America, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, Case No.1:18- 12 mj-03161-KMW (the “Cohen SDNY Action”) (see relevant excerpts at: pp. 27:12- 13 28:13). 14 3. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is a true and correct copy of Michael 15 Avenatti’s Notice of Withdrawal of Motion for Pro Hac Vice Admission Without 16 Prejudice, filed in the Cohen SDNY Action on May 30, 2018, which is available on 17 the Pacer website for the Southern District of New York 18 (https://ecf.nysd.uscourts.gov). 19 4. Since Plaintiff filed this action on March 6, 2018, her attorney, Michael 20 Avenatti, has made a minimum of 121 television appearances to discuss the facts and 21 circumstances relating to this case. Attached hereto as Exhibit C is a chart listing 22 each of those appearances. 23 5. Since Plaintiff filed this action on March 6, 2018, Mr. Avenatti, has 24 issued a minimum of 439 tweets that relate to this case and/or Mr. Cohen. Attached 25 hereto as Exhibit D is a chart of these tweets, which are accessible at 26 https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti. 27 6. Attached hereto as Exhibit E is a true and correct copy of the article 28 entitled, “UPDATE: Porn Star Lawyer Interviewed 147 Times in 10 Weeks,” which

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1 was published by Media Research Center NewsBusters on or about May 16, 2018, at 2 the following URL: https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/bill-dagostino/2018/05/16 3 /update-porn-star-lawyer-interviewed-147-times-10-weeks. 4 7. Attached hereto as Exhibit F is a true and correct copy of a June 14, 5 2018 preservation of the first page of Mr. Avenatti’s page, which is accessible 6 at https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti. At the time this preservation was made, Mr. 7 Avenatti’s Twitter account reflected that he had 538,000 Twitter followers. 8 8. Attached hereto as Exhibit G is a true and correct copy of a tweet posted 9 on the Twitter account for The Late Show, which included a video clip of Mr. 10 Avenatti’s appearance on the June 13, 2018 episode of “The Late Show,” and is 11 accessible at https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1007066340891512832. At 12 0:20 in this clip, Mr. Avenatti states: 13 I predicted a couple months ago that Michael Cohen was going to be indicted, 14 that he was in a whole heap load of trouble, and, and I think that we’ve seen that 15 play out over the last couple of months. There’s no question in my mind that 16 he’s going to be indicted, and there’s no question in my mind that he’s going to 17 try to flip on the President. I think that Michael Cohen is in a very, very bad 18 spot, and I think the President is in a very, very bad spot because this is what 19 happens when you trust your inner most secrets to a moron. 20 9. Attached hereto as Exhibit H is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of 21 a transcript of Michael Avenatti’s June 13, 2018 appearance on “The Lead” on CNN, 22 which was published by CNN on or about June 13, 2018, at the following URL: 23 http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1806/13/cg.01.html 24 10. On June 13, 2018, Mr. Avenatti appeared on “The Last Word” on 25 MSNBC. A video clip of this appearance can be viewed at the following URL: 26 https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/rpt-trump-fuming-about-cohen-s- 27 handling-of-stormy-daniels-1255390787558. At 4:51 in the clip, Mr. Avenatti states: 28

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1 So what’s going to happen here is the narcissism of this president, um, you 2 know, his arrogance, his stupidity, is ultimately going to catch up to him because 3 he’s not covering, he’s not providing their cover, for the guy [Michael Cohen] 4 that knows where all the bodies are buried, I’ve been saying this for a while, I 5 mean this is the guy that that handled all of the nonsense for the President, for 6 the better part of twelve years, okay, if there’s one guy, on the face of the planet, 7 that you provide air cover for, that you provide legal fees for, that you bring in 8 the tent, that you make him feel loved and welcomed, it’s this guy, okay, but 9 that’s not what we’ve seen in fact we’ve seen just the opposite and this arrogance 10 and this narcissism is very, very dangerous, okay, this, this is the guy [Michael 11 Cohen] that knows where the bodies are buried and I believe that he’s going to 12 sing like a canary because he’s not going to have any choice but to try to save 13 his family, and the people that he care about, that he cares about, and he’s going 14 to be out of money. 15 11. Attached hereto as Exhibit J is a true and correct copy of Plaintiff’s 16 Complaint for Defamation against Donald J. Trump (Case No. 1:18-cv-03842), filed 17 in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, on April 30, 2018, 18 which is available on the Pacer website for the Southern District of New York 19 (https://ecf.nysd.uscourts.gov). 20 12. Attached hereto as Exhibit K is a true and correct copy of Plaintiff’s 21 Complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 6, 2018 (Case No. SC129384) 22 (the “Third Clifford Action”). On June 7, 2018, the Third Clifford Action was 23 removed to the United States District Court, Central District of California (Case No. 24 2:18-cv-05052). In the Third Clifford Action, Plaintiff alleges that Mr. Cohen aided 25 and abetted Mr. Davidson in a breach of his fiduciary duty owed to Ms. Clifford 26 arising out of Mr. Davidson’s representation of Plaintiff in connection with the 27 Settlement Agreement at issue in this action. A copy of this Complaint is also 28 available on the Pacer website for the Central District of California

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1 (https://ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov/). 2 13. Attached hereto as Exhibit L is a true and correct copy of the Notice of 3 Related Case filed by Mr. Cohen in the Third Clifford Action, which is available on 4 the Pacer website for the Central District of California (https://ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov/). 5 14. Attached hereto as Exhibit M is a true and correct copy of a tweet posted 6 on Michael Avenatti’s Twitter account on April 27, 2018, and available at the 7 following URL: https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/989974117993639936. 8 15. On June 13, 2018, Mr. Avenatti appeared on “Real Time with Bill 9 Maher” on HBO. A video clip of this appearance can be viewed at the following 10 URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vYVDPbL_EA. At 2:30 in the clip, Mr. 11 Avenatti and Bill Maher have the following exchange: 12 Maher: How do you actually make show up [to a 13 deposition]? 14 Avenatti: Well, we get a federal judge to order him to appear for a 15 deposition. 16 Maher: and a federal judge you think will do that? 17 Avenatti: I do. I think Judge Otero here in Los Angeles who is one of 18 the best. 19 Maher: and it can be any federal judge? 20 Avenatti: It could be any federal judge, but it’s going to be Judge Otero 21 in Los Angeles. 22 Maher: Because he f….d her here in Los Angeles? 23 Avenatti: No, because we filed here in Los Angeles. 24 Maher: It’s not like I’m letting the cat out of the bag. 25 Avenatti: But they did spend some time at the Beverly Hills Hotel, 26 talking about Shark Week…. Michael Cohen knows where 27 almost all of the bodies are buried and I think he is going to 28 sing like a canary.

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1 Maher: I agree. 2 Avenatti: Here’s the problem. 3 Maher: How do you know he’s going to fold? 4 Avenatti: I know he’s going to fold. Because here’s the problem. When 5 you have a fixer, you need two things, you need a guy that’s 6 tough, you need a guy who’s smart. This guy is neither tough 7 or smart….The basis for the FBI warrants was the fact that 8 the FBI and U.S. Attorney Office had reason to believe that 9 Michael Cohen was undertaking efforts to destroy 10 documents. 11 16. Attached hereto as Exhibit O is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of 12 a transcript of Michael Avenatti’s April 25, 2018 appearance on “CNN Tonight” on 13 CNN, which was published by CNN on or about April 25, 2018, at the following 14 URL: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1804/25/cnnt.02.html. 15 17. Attached hereto as Exhibit P is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 16 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 8, 2018 appearance on “Anderson Cooper 360” 17 on CNN, which was published by CNN on or about May 8, 2018, at the following 18 URL: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1805/08/acd.01.html. 19 18. Attached hereto as Exhibit Q is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of 20 a transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 8, 2018 appearance on “The Last Word” on 21 MSNBC, which was published by MSNBC on or about May 8, 2018, at the following 22 URL: http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/the-last-word/2018-05-08. 23 19. Attached hereto as Exhibit R is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 24 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 9, 2018 appearance on “The Rachel Maddow 25 Show” on MSNBC, which was published by MSNBC on or about May 9, 2018, at 26 URL: http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2018-05-09. 27 20. Attached hereto as Exhibit S is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 28 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 9, 2018 appearance on “New Day” on CNN,

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1 which was published by CNN on or about May 9, 2018, at the following URL: 2 http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1805/09/nday.06.html. 3 21. Attached hereto as Exhibit T is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 4 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 18, 2018 appearance on “The Last Word” on 5 MSNBC, which was published by MSNBC on or about May 18, 2018, at the following 6 URL: http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/the-last-word/2018-05-18. 7 22. Attached hereto as Exhibit U is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 8 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 22, 2018 appearance on “The Beat With Ari 9 Melber” on MSNBC, which was published by MSNBC on or about May 22, 2018, at 10 the following URL: http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/msnbc-live-with-ari- 11 melber/2018-05-22. 12 23. Attached hereto as Exhibit V is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 13 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s May 30, 2018 appearance on “The Beat With Ari 14 Melber” on MSNBC, which was published by MSNBC on or about May 30, 2018, at 15 the following URL: http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/msnbc-live-with-ari- 16 melber/2018-05-30. 17 24. Attached hereto as Exhibit W is a compilation of true and correct copies 18 of tweets posted on Michael Avenatti’s Twitter account, which denigrate Mr. Cohen, 19 and are also accessible at https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti. 20 25. Attached hereto as Exhibit X is a true and correct copy of two May 8, 21 2018 tweets by Michael Avenatti along with an Executive Summary of “Project 22 Sunlight,” which was linked to in Mr. Avenatti’s tweets, available at the following 23 URLs: https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/993960339443200000 and 24 https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/994061843315482624. 25 26. Attached hereto as Exhibit Y is a true and correct copy of the article 26 entitled, “Treasury watchdog probing how Stormy Daniels lawyer got Cohen’s bank 27 records,” which was published by on or about May 9, 2018, at the following 28 URL: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/386931-treasury-watchdog-

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1 probing-how-stormy-daniels-lawyer-got-cohens-bank. 2 27. Attached hereto as Exhibit Z is a true and correct copy of the article 3 entitled, “Treasury inspector general launches probe into possible leak of Michael 4 Cohen’s banking records,” which was published by on or about 5 May 9, 2018, at the following URL: 6 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/treasury-inspector-general-launches-probe- 7 into-possible-leak-of-michael-cohens-banking-records/2018/05/09/d33c2010-5391- 8 11e8-b00a-17f9fda3859b_story.html. 9 28. Attached hereto as Exhibit I is a true and correct copy of an excerpt of a 10 transcript of Michael Avenatti’s April 15, 2018 appearance on “CNN Newsroom” on 11 CNN, which was published by CNN on or about April 15, 2018, at the following 12 URL: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1804/15/cnr.02.html. 13 29. On June 14, 2018, I conferred telephonically with Plaintiff’s counsel, Mr. 14 Avenatti, over the telephone, and advised him that Mr. Cohen intended to bring the 15 instant Ex Parte Application. In response, Mr. Avenatti advised that Plaintiff will 16 oppose the relief requested by the Application. That same day I also spoke with 17 Charles Harder, counsel for Defendant Donald Trump, who indicated that he did not 18 oppose the relief requested in the Application. Attached hereto as Exhibit AA is a 19 true and correct copy of an email chain between me and Mr. Avenatti regarding the 20 scheduling of our meet and confer regarding Clifford’s Motion to Remand in Clifford 21 v. Davidson and this present Ex Parte Application. 22 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of 23 America that the foregoing is true and correct. 24 Executed on June 14, 2018, at Los Angeles, California. 25 /s/ Brent H. Blakely 26 BRENT H. BLAKELY 27

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