‘She hit me first…’
Correction: Initial wire reports indicated that Avenatti’s estranged ex-wife was the domestic-abuse victim. The New York Daily News now reports that his ex-wife denies any involvement and defended him. The story and headline have been updated to reflect the change.
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Michael Avenatti, the Trump-trolling attorney most famous for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against the president, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a female acquaintance, according to a report originally broken by celebrity gossip site TMZ.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ that Avenatti was charged with felony domestic assault after allegedly beating up the woman at a ritzy apartment building in Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to New York Daily News.
TMZ said the incident happened as Avenatti attempted to evict the woman from the apartment. While filing the domestic violence report, the article noted, her face appeared “swollen and bruised” with “red marks.”
A second confrontation occurred on Wednesday, TMZ reports, after the woman attempted to gather her things with help from the building security. Avenatti showed up shortly thereafter screaming profanities and claiming, “She hit me first.”
Avenatti was reportedly still in custody Wednesday afternoon and could not immediately be reached for comment, said New York Daily News.
Once the darling of nearly every CNN and MSNBC talk show, who declared himself a potential 2020 presidential challenger for Trump, Avenatti already had fallen into a degree of disrepute after a failed gambit to grab headlines during the contentious and highly watched confirmation saga of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Following the accusations of Christine Blasey Ford and another accuser, Avenatti used his media clout to dramatically trot out a third accuser, Julie Swetnick. However, Swetnick’s outlandish claims of having witnessed the conservative jurist participating in orgies were quickly dispatched.
Many of the Left resented Avenatti’s forsaking the more credible witnesses in the interest of his own profit and showmanship.
A comprehensive review of all of the claims, released last month by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, thoroughly debunked the uncorroborated accounts and recommended both Swetnick and Avenatti be investigated by the Department of Justice for potential perjury due to the use of a sworn affidavit.
Around the same time, Avenatti faced a setback in the Stormy Daniels case as a judge threw out a defamation lawsuit she had pressed and ruled that Daniels was obligated to pay Trump’s considerable legal expenses for the frivolous claim.
In May, Avenatti was sued by his former legal partner, Jason Frank, for breach of contract after missing the deadline in a settlement agreement to pay Frank $4.85 million.
“The suit is completely bogus. Who cares?” Avenatti told left-wing blog Talking Points Memo.