Image by Getty Images

By Ari Feldman April 13, 2018

Michael Cohen is asking Judge Kimba Wood to suppress legal documents related to his relationship with Donald Trump in his trial over payments to the pornographic actress Stormy Daniels.

Wood, a federal judge, has certainly seen lighter moments in her time on the bench.

In 2010, Wood gave a Jewish defense attorney the day off from court on the day his third grandson was born so that he could attend the bris.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Bennett Epstein announced the birth of the child with aplomb: “Judge, I have an announcement to make: Hoo hah!” he said in court.

Epstein asked for the day off if the child were a boy, but if she were a girl, there would be no bris to attend. So Wood cut him a deal.

“If a daughter is born,” Wood wrote, “there will be a public celebration in Court, with readings from poetry celebrating girls and women.”

But the celebration was not required. Epstein called Wood “a terrific judge, a wonderful person with a great sense of humor.”

Wood also officiated at a non-denominational wedding service for billionaire George Soros in 2013.

She was nominated as Attorney General by President Bill Clinton but withdrew in a flap over her hiring of a nanny who was not eligible to work in the U.S. As a cash-strapped student she once spent five days in a training course to be a Playboy bunny.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount