Michael Avenatti Says He Would Testify for Trump. Color Me Skeptical.
Some people just shouldn't be trusted. One of those people is Stormy Daniels' former lawyer, Michael Avenatti. Now he's making the news claiming that the Trump legal team is in contact with him as he sits in a prison cell, and stating that he's willing to testify on Trump's behalf. As I recall, this guy hated Donald Trump until, maybe, the day before yesterday.
Personally, I wouldn't trust this guy any farther than I could throw Michael Moore.
Disgraced Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti has been in contact with former President Trump’s legal defense team and is ready and willing to testify against his former client, he told The Post in an interview from jail.
“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.
While an anonymous source "close to the former president" has supposedly confirmed the contacts, I'm skeptical. Here's why:
Once an obscure California litigator, Avenatti vaulted into public prominence in 2018 while representing Stormy Daniels, the porn star who alleged Trump had an affair with her in 2006.
While the former president has consistently denied the charge, the $130,000 payment to Daniels to allegedly buy her silence during the 2016 presidential election now lays at heart of the Manhattan criminal case against him.
At his height, the quotable attorney was such a regular presence on MSNBC that he frequently slept in their New York City headquarters.
Former CNN host Brian Stelter and Trump confidante Steve Bannon both suggested Avenatti would be a formidable presidential candidate.
This isn't the background of a guy who has suddenly decided to throw in with Team Trump.
It doesn't help that Avenatti is at present sitting in a prison cell, having been convicted of trying to extort money from Nike and embezzling $300,000 from Stormy Daniels' book deal. Now, suddenly, the Trump legal team is supposedly considering this guy as a witness - for the defense?
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television. Here at RedState, we have our own legal minds that do the legal analyses, and I'm not one of them, so I won't speculate on any legal aspects of this thing. But I know a disreputable character when I see one, and Michael Avenatti - who Tucker Carlson used to refer to as the "creepy porn lawyer" - certainly fits that description.
Look, honesty is something of a hard line for me. If someone lies once, he'll lie again. If someone will steal once, he'll steal again. Avenatti has done both; that's why he's sitting in a prison cell. I wouldn't put it past him to get on the stand and flip, and this guy would if he saw even a momentary advantage in it for him - perhaps a chance to revive his career with a slot at MSNBC.
The Trump legal team would be well advised to leave Michael Avenatti in his cell, swapping promises of free legal advice for smokes. Trusting him to testify would be a mistake.
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