Michael Avenatti, the previous attorney for former porn star Stormy Daniels, reportedly said he has been in contact with presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s legal defense team.
Avenatti told to the New York Post from Terminal Island in Los Angeles — where he is currently serving 19 years in federal prison for an array of crimes including extortion, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement and other crimes — that he would be “more than happy to testify” in Alvin Bragg’s trial against Trump..
“The defense has contacted me,” Avenatti said. “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,” according to the outlet.
Michael Avenatti says he’s talking to Trump’s legal team — and would testify for the ex-prez https://t.co/q1sNsPc90W pic.twitter.com/6f8omjyTHQ
— New York Post (@nypost) April 20, 2024
Avenatti stopped representing Daniels in March 2019. The disbarred attorney was found guilty of defrauding Daniels of about $300,000 in February 2022. Avenatti was also found guilty in February 2020 of all three charges relating to his scheme to extort over $20 million from Nike. (RELATED: Dismissed Juror Tells MSNBC Of ‘Jarring’ Experience With Trump In Court: ‘This Is Just Another Guy’)
“There’s no question [the trial] is politically motivated because they’re concerned that he may be reelected,” Avenatti told the outlet. “If the defendant was anyone other than Donald Trump, this case would not have been brought at this time, and for the government to attempt to bring this case and convict him in an effort to prevent tens of millions of people from voting for him, I think it’s just flat out wrong, and atrocious.”
“I’m really bothered by the fact that Trump, in my view, has been targeted. Four cases is just over the top and I think there’s a significant chance that this is going to all backfire and is going to propel him to the White House,” Avenatti said.
Trump was charged with 34 felony counts in New York after being accused of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged “hush money” payment related to what Daniels claimed was an extramarital affair.