Earlier this week, The New York Post reported that Michael Avenatti, the man who spent most of 2018 and 2019 as one of Donald Trump’s biggest gadflies, is seriously considering testifying in Trump’s hush money/election interference trial as a witness for the defense. Fellow Kossack Dan K diaried about it here, but I think the nation needs a reminder about who this guy really is—something that we have learned the hard way over the years.
One of my biggest regrets in my three decades as a political junkie is having ever trusted a man whom we now know is one of the closest things we’ve seen so far to a Democratic version of Trump—a con man and grifter who is solely out for himself and sees other people as just objects in his way. That was established beyond any doubt in a series of trials that took place between 2019 and 2020, in which he was sentenced to a total of 14 years in federal prison for attempting to extort Nike and for stealing millions from Stormy Daniels and other clients. Even allowing for the scorched-earth tactics we’ve already seen from Trump’s defense team, a deep dive into Avenatti’s past shows calling him to the stand would be extremely foolhardy even by Trumpian standards.
When Dan K’s diary popped up, I immediately thought back to my own diary in 2021 in the run-up to Avenatti being sentenced for his attempted shakedown of Nike. For those who don’t recall, Avenatti was caught on tape demanding Nike pay him $25 million to keep him quiet about its under-the-table payments to high school players. Otherwise, Avenatti threatened to hold a press conference exposing Nike’s misdeeds—which he claimed could slash Nike’s market cap by as much as $6 billion. He was ultimately sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
This and other misdeeds were spelled out in an American Greed profile that ran earlier in 2021 on CNBC. By the time it aired, Avenatti was facing multiple federal indictments in Manhattan and Los Angeles for fleecing his clients. While his embezzlement of money from Daniels got the most attention, the most gut-wrenching anecdote involved Geoffrey Johnson, who was left paralyzed after a suicide attempt while behind bars in Los Angeles County for a crime he didn’t commit. Avenatti sued the county in 2012 and won a $4 million settlement. However, he sucked down the proceeds of the settlement for his own benefit.
The Los Angeles indictment also involved his role with Tully’s, a Seattle-based coffee shop chain. According to American Greed, Avenatti loaded Tully’s with debt and skimmed off payroll taxes. He more or less disappeared from Tully’s around the time he became Daniels’ attorney, leaving the chain in ruin. In June 2022, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and and obstructing the IRS. He not only admitted to stealing millions from four clients, but obstructing IRS efforts to collect millions in payroll taxes from Tully’s. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Earlier, he was sentenced to four years in prison for fleecing Daniels, though half of the sentence ran concurrently with the extortion sentence.
So Trump’s legal team is at least considering using as a witness a man who is an admitted fraudster who stole millions from, among other people, a disabled man. They’re considering using as a witness a man who left a coffee shop chain a smoldering rubble while he was chasing the spotlight. And they’re trying to knock Alvin Bragg and his team for using Michael Cohen as a witness? Don’t make me laugh.
I realize that in order to be a lawyer for Trump at this point, you have to be really bad, really frustrated, or really subservient. If they’re seriously considering calling Avenatti to the stand with all of his baggage, they aren’t just really bad. They’re suicidally bad.