The hearing before U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood of the Southern District of New York was originally scheduled as a check-in on the privilege review process being handled by attorneys for Michael Cohen.

But it was Michael Avenatti, attorney for adult film actress Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels, who ended up taking up most of the time. More specifically, it was Avenatti's pro hac vice motion to appear in the Southern District, which has been actively and, during the hearing, vocally opposed by Cohen's attorney, McDermott Will & Emery attorney Stephen Ryan.

Avenatti himself appeared to ask the court to address an alleged leak that he said most probably came from Cohen's team. According to Avenatti, a reporter recently asked him to comment on tapes purportedly between Cohen and Clifford's previous counsel, Keith Davidson, in which Davidson is unwittingly being recorded discussing privileged information about his client with Cohen. Avenatti has said he believes the leak is meant to “paint a false narrative” of his client.