"This president will not serve out this term. I guarantee it," declared Michael Avenatti on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" early Thursday, following damning remarks made by President Donald Trump's recently hired attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
Avenatti is representing adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and whom Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 before the election to secure her silence regarding an alleged affair between her and the president. Daniels, who says she was also threatened with physical harm in 2011, is suing to end a nondisclosure agreement tied to the payment, though the suit is on hold while Cohen is under criminal investigation.
Avenatti's prediction on Thursday came after Giuliani told Sean Hannity on Wednesday night that Trump knew about--and even reimbursed Cohen for--the hush money paid to Daniels, a disclosure that Giuliani claimed was strategic, but which both contradicted Trump's previous claims and led legal experts to charge that the payment amounts to a violation of campaign finance rules--a federal crime.
Following Giuliani's remarks, Avenatti also took to Twitter on Thursday morning and urged "Fox & Friends" to have Trump and his new lawyer on the show this week, to create an opportunity for them to make more troubling disclosures.
While Avenatti made jabs at the president's favorite morning show Thursday, on Wednesday night he struck a more serious tone, tweeting, "Every American, regardless of their politics, should be outraged."
Avenatti also appeared on CNN late Wednesday to address the development, calling the president's apparent dishonesty "an absolute disgrace."
"Every American regardless of their political persuasion," he said, "should be disgusted by what has happened in connection with the lies that you have been told over the last three months about this payment. You should be disgusted by the fact that the president of the United States stood on Air Force One, on video and audio, and stated lies to you related to this $130,000 payment."
"And there's no way to dress this up," Avenatti added. "You can try to put lipstick on the pig morning, noon, and night, and it's still gonna be a pig."
