Michael Avenatti, lawyer of adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, arrives at federal court in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Peter Foley | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels appears to winning the PR campaign against Michael Cohen's legal team even when he loses — and seems on track to keep on driving Cohen crazy. At a court hearing Wednesday, Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, was rebuffed, albeit temporarily, in his bid to have a federal judge allow him to keep representing her in connection with documents seized last month from President Donald Trump's personal attorney Cohen by the FBI. Avenatti hours later formally withdrew from the court his request from the court. But in retreating, Avenatti guaranteed that he will not be constrained by the judge in his ongoing, scathing cable news blitzkrieg against Trump and his lawyer, Cohen, a 51-year-old who is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in New York but has not been charged. If Judge Kimba Wood had granted Avenatti what he was seeking, she noted, he would be effectively muzzled from commenting, as he has publicly, on Cohen's purported guilty, and from also releasing, as he has, non-public information Cohen. Avenatti's media jihad has clearly gotten under the skin of Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well as Cohen's lawyer Stephen Ryan. Defense lawyers unconnected to the case said Cohen and his legal team would be better served preparing for what they believe is a likely indictment than focusing on fighting Avenatti. But during Wednesday's hearing, Ryan spent much of his time on his feet in front of Judge Kimba Wood opposing Avenatti's request for admission into the case.

Special waiver

Nothing improper