- If I look different it's because I'm not one and oh
as a fourth grade basketball coach.
Breaking news!
- [Announcer] This is CNN breaking news.
- I don't think Michael Avenatti
is going to be president.
Laugh if you will and you probably will,
but there were times in 2018 where the idea
of a President Avenatti or at least
a democratic nominee Avenatti wasn't any laughing matter.
Now the rise and apparent fall of Avenatti
is yes, a somewhat salacious story
of a lawyer for a porn star using the megaphone
of cable TV to try to remake himself
into a credible candidate.
That all happened.
But it's also the story of how fast you can rise
and how disastrously you can fall
in the modern political and media world.
And it's a uniquely 2018 story about where we are
in politics and culture at this depressing moment.
It's amazing to consider, given his current ubiquity
but most people had never heard the name Michael Avenatti
before this year and that's not for want of trying.
Avenatti is someone who has always moved in powerful circles
and valued that notoriety.
Now according to his website, he has represented
Christina Aguilera as well as Don Henley and Glenn Fry,
two founding members of the rock band Eagles.
He's also handled litigation surrounding
the movie K19 The Widowmaker.
Whatever that means.
Sidebar, I didn't go to law school,
which technically means I'm not a lawyer.
And yes my mother is still disappointed in my decisions.
Sorry mom!
But for our purposes and more on the point,
Avenatti became a thing in the spring of 2018
when he took on the case of adult film actress
Stormy Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford
who alleged that she and Trump
had an affair in the mid 2000s.
Now Daniels claimed that she'd been paid $130,000
by Trump's associate Michael Cohen
in the days just before the 2016 election
to keep quiet about those allegations.
Avenatti quickly sued Trump on Daniels behalf
in hopes of getting her free from her non-disclosure deal.
Then suddenly, Daniels was everywhere.
And so was Avenatti, always at her side.
You couldn't turn on cable TV, including CNN
without seeing Avenatti insisting that he had the goods
on Cohen and Trump and brashly predicting
something, but always it would all come out
on Trump and Cohen sooner rather than later.
Now when the FBI conducted a raid on Cohen's home,
hotel, and office in April, they seized thousands
of documents and they put Trumps personal lawyer
and fixer at the center of the ongoing
Russia interference investigation.
It sure did seem like Avenatti had predicted the future.
And because he's Avenatti, he wasn't shy
about tooting his own horn.
Here's Avenatti soon after the Cohen raid, quote,
"To those that scoffed when we filed this case
"and claimed it was all about dollar sign:
"As we predicted and as the FBI raid shows,
"Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump are in a lot of trouble.
"It has always been about the threats,
"coverup and the lies that have been
"told to the American people."
End quote.
Then as spring turned to summer,
Avenatti's TV presence only increased.
What he was talking about actually started to change though.
No longer was Avenatti simply defending Daniels right
to be free from her hush agreement with Cohen and Trump,
suddenly he was casting himself as the only person
in the country willing and able to stand up to Donald Trump.
At then, suddenly, it happened.
In response to a maybe joking tweet on July 4th
about when he was announcing his 2020 bid,
Avenatti tweeted this, and I quote,
"If parenthesis big he seeks re-election, I will run,
"but only if I think there is no other candidate
"in the race that has a real chance at beating him.
"We can't relive 2016.
"I love this country, our values, and our people
"too much to sit by while they are destroyed.
"Hashtag fight club."
What?
Of course with Donald Trump, reality star,
gossip tabloid foddery and recent convert
to the Republican Party, in the White House,
who could rule out the idea of a man who became famous
for representing a porn star, who said she had an affair
with the President of the United States
running against that same President.
In some ways it's a perfect storyline.
Avenatti went to Iowa.
Avenatti went to New Hampshire.
Avenatti started a political organization
to donate to Democratic candidates and most importantly
of all, Avenatti talked tough, real tough.
- So I say, when they go low, we hit harder.
(cheering)
- This fall he said this, quote,
"We cannot afford to show up
"to the fight without a slingshot."
End quote.
Now even as Avenatti was rising from celebrity
lawyer to probably candidate for president,
there were some warning signs that his rapid ascent
might have glossed over a few problems
from his past and present.
In July, Avenatti paid the Internal Revenue Service
over $880,000 in unpaid payroll taxes related to a deal
he made to bring his law firm out of bankruptcy.
In October, a judge ordered Avenatti to pay
almost five million dollars to a former law partner of his.
Now all of that paled in comparison with what happened
in the middle of November.
Avenatti was arrested in West Los Angeles
on suspicion of domestic violence.
Now Avenatti vehemently denied the charges
saying at the time, quote, "I have never been physically
"abusive in my life nor was I last night.
"Any accusations to the contrary are fabricated
"and meant to do harm to my reputation.
"I look forward to being fully exonerated."
End quote.
The Los Angeles District Attorney's office
declined to file felony domestic violence charges
against him, choosing instead to refer the case
to the city attorney's office
for consideration of misdemeanor charges.
And that case is still ongoing.
But, politically speaking, the damage is done.
A scheduled appearance for the Vermont Democratic Party
was canceled and Avenatti hasn't been seen
on cable TV for weeks.
For a time, even Daniels turned on him
saying she would drop him as her lawyer
if the domestic abuse allegations were true
and suggesting that Avenatti sued Trump against her wishes.
Now don't worry, you can sleep tonight
because that fight has apparently ended
as Daniels tweeted this about she
and Avenatti on Sunday night.
Quote, "We are going to kick ass together
"on two coasts tomorrow."
Well all may be well in the world of Avenatti and Daniels,
but his presidential prospects aren't going to recovery
so quickly and they might not recover at all.
Politico ran a piece recently headline quote,
"Avenatti Crashes and Burns."
End quote.
Now I tweeted the piece out, thought it was interesting.
Avenatti himself wasn't too happy with my decision
and said this, quote, "Chris hasn't kept up in three years.
"And don't expect anything to change this cycle
"because he's still sleeping."
Which, maybe.
I mean a world in which Donald Trump is President,
nothing is impossible, but Avenatti looks more and more
like another version of the current President
and I'm skeptical that Democrats will nominate
their own version of Trump in 2020.
And that is the point.
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