Michael Avenatti was once Stormy Daniels’s lawyer. He done her wrong, as they say, in a lot of ways — filing a defamation case on her behalf against Trump, which she lost. Daniels claimed Avenatti filed the case against her wishes, but the court disagreed and ordered her to pay Trump’s legal fees. A different court did convict Avenatti of stealing Daniels’s $300,000 book advance. He is serving 4 years for that crime, on top of several others he’s also been convicted of.
But it seems he’s not done with her. The New York Post interviewed Avenatti in a phone call to his California prison (it doesn’t say what led them to make the call): Michael Avenatti says he’s talking to Trump’s legal team — and would testify for the ex-prez :
“The defense has contacted me,” Avenatti told The Post in a phone call from Terminal Island, a minimum-security federal prison in Los Angeles where he is currently serving a 19-year sentence for extortion, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement and other federal crimes.
“I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defense for the better part of year,” Avenatti said.
Avenatti says he’s not doing this in hopes of a pardon. If you believe that, I’d like to interest you in a bridge in Brooklyn I happen to have for sale. And if Avenatti really believes Trump would pardon him given the opportunity, I’ll sell him that bridge at a discount.
The ex-litigator refused to offer any details about the specifics of his conversations with Team Trump.
A person close to the former president confirmed the ongoing discussions.
The Post adds:
Of his former client, Avenatti was scathing — and warned New York City prosecutors that he expected Daniels to commit perjury should she be called as a witness.
“Stormy Daniels is going to say whatever she believes is going to assist Stormy Daniels and putting more money in her pocket,” Avenatti said. “If Stormy Daniels lips are moving, she’s lying for money.”
Daniels wasn’t having any of it.
Reached by phone, Daniels called Avenatti a “lunatic” and a “scumbag.”
“I was about to say that I also wish I’d never met him but I’m actually glad because I’m the one that helped convict him so he couldn’t steal from even more unsuspecting clients,” Daniels said.
(The (UK) Independent picked up the story: — Disgraced former Stormy Daniels lawyer says he would now testify for Trump — rearranging some parts but generally the same piece.)
Both stories report how Avenatti, who used to attack Trump ferociously, now feels sympathy for him — they have both been targeted by the justice system, he claims — in his case, because “people on the left” were worried that he might be a rising star in the Democratic party. (See above, Bridge, Brooklyn.)
Now, IANAL, but I do have to wonder if Avenatti does testify against Daniels, is there a possibility he will be violating attorney-client privilege?
And another question: Why did the Post, which favors Trump (or at least despises Biden), decide to run this story now, spoiling any surprise the defense might have been setting up? The rules for what the defense must disclose to prosecutors in a criminal case are complex, and vary from state to state, so I can’t say if the defense had to tell Bragg’s office in advance if they plan to call Avenatti. But if not, the Post just spilled the beans.