The media, and Democrats, finally turn on creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti, whom they excoriate as self-serving fraudster who has done “real damage” to the Democratic Party.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley on Friday referred lawyer/carnival barker Michael Avenatti to the Justice Department for a second criminal investigation amid reports his accuser recanted her allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. even before he submitted her sworn declaration.
The referral follows the one issued Thursday — alleging that Avenatti and client Julie Swetnick engaged in a “conspiracy” to provide false statements to Congress about Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual misconduct — after the accuser backtracked on some allegations.
The Friday referral via a letter to the Justice Department, concerns the second sworn declaration Avenatti submitted to the committee that supposedly backed up Swetnick’s allegations.
Over the weekend, editorial writers across the nation lined up to excoriate Avenatti.
The New York Daily News editorial board wrote, in a stinging column entitled “Adios, Avenatti: The combative lawyer is a joke who’s already done real damage to Democrats”
Michael Avenatti’s bring-a-bazooka-to-a-gun-fight approach to Donald Trump has had some Democrats — well, Avenatti himself, primarily — fantasizing that the combative lawyer could make an attractive standard-bearer in 2020.
Give it up. Avenatti’s 15 minutes, which lasted a few months, are up.
First came the Julie Swetnick fiasco. . . .Meanwhile, a judge dismissed porn star Stormy Daniels’ Avenatti-filed libel suit against Trump — forcing her to pay the President’s legal fees.
And Avenatti lost a back-pay case to a lawyer in his former firm to the tune of $4.85 million.
Avenatti’s political instincts are pretty poor, too. He told Time magazine that Democrats ought to nominate a white male because their arguments “carry more weight” — not an ideal message for a diverse party dependent upon the votes of women and minorities.
The Washington Examiner added that Avenatti’s “assertion that the party’s next presidential nominee should be a white male has fellow Democrats turning on him.”
“Saying something like that is the quickest way not to get the Democratic nomination for president,” Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, said.
Columnist Kathleen Parker commented:
At last, Democrats and Republicans have found common ground in hoping that Michael Avenatti, the wannabe progressive president, will soon disappear.
A second Justice Department referral
The GOP chairman indicated that the second referral was precipitated by an NBC News report on Thursday – nearly three weeks after Kavanaugh’s confirmation – which contended that a second, unidentified accuser walked back on her allegations even before the lawyer could post her statement on social media, saying Avenatti “twisted” her words.
The woman, who remains unidentified, said in a sworn statement posted by Avenatti that she saw Kavanaugh “spike” the punch at the parties.
But in an interview with NBC News on Sept. 30, prior the release of the statement, she said “I didn’t ever think it was Brett” who spiked the drinks and denied ever seeing Kavanaugh acting inappropriately toward women.
After reviewing her statement posted by Avenatti, she told the outlet that “It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch. I didn’t see anyone spike the punch. … I was very clear with Michael Avenatti from day one.”
“It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch. I didn’t see anyone spike the punch. … I was very clear with Michael Avenatti from day one.”
— Michael Avenatti’s second Kavanaugh accuser
She also said “I would not ever allow anyone to be abusive in my presence. Male or female,” adding that she did not “like that [Avenatti] twisted my words.”
Grassley said in the letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray that the woman’s sworn testimony submitted to the committee Oct. 2 “appears to be an outright fraud.”
“She stated she was clear and consistent ‘from day one’ with Mr. Avenatti that those claims were not true. And she said Mr. Avenatti ‘twisted [her] words.’ When reporters pressed him on these discrepancies, Mr. Avenatti attempted to deceive them in an apparent effort to thwart the truth coming out,” Grassley wrote.
“In light of this new information, I am now referring Mr. Avenatti for investigation of additional potential violations of those same laws, stemming from a second declaration he submitted to the Committee that also appears to contain materially false statements,” Grassley added.
