Michael Avenatti, attorney for Stormy Daniels, chides the "rope-a-dope defense" being used by President Trump's legal team
Michael Avenatti, attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, says the American people have seen the “rope-a-dope defense” being used by President Trump’s legal team play out on the national stage, adding that they are “redefining what the word ‘no’ means” as members of the administration continues to flip on just when and what the president knew about payments made to Avenatti’s client.
“I think that over the last few months, we’ve proven to be very serious about this case — in fact far more serious than Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump, or now Mr. Giuliani,” Avenatti told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Now that the president’s legal team has gone on the record saying that Mr. Trump repaid Michael Cohen personally for the $130,000 payment to Daniels, Avenatti said it’s clear to the American people “what’s going on and it’s a cover up.”
Avenatti pointed directly to Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway who told “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the president was not aware of payments to Daniels when they occurred.
“I have to tell you I would urge people to go back and take a look at the statement that Michael Cohen issued back in late February or early March where he denied basically that Mr. Trump had reimbursed the payment. And he claimed he had done it all on his own,” he said. “I mean we now know that was an absolute lie.”
Avenatti suggested that with more statements being made by the administration and the president’s legal team, the “likelihood of us being able to place this president under oath I think has gone up exponentially.”
Despite the president repeatedly denying the allegations of an affair with Daniels, Avenatti says there’s “no question” a relationship occurred between the president and his client.
“They’ve tried to distance themselves from the agreement, distance themselves from the payment, distance themselves from the reimbursement. I mean… all you have to do is look at how they now claim the reimbursement occurred to know that something doesn’t smell right,” said Avenatti.
He added, “The more they talk the better our case gets and here’s why — because they can’t keep their stories straight. They can’t keep their lies straight. They keep providing further explanations upon explanations because they don’t want to tell the American people the truth about what happened here. “
