Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti will join several Democratic presidential candidates Friday at the same Democratic fundraiser in Clear Lake, Iowa, that 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama visited during their campaigns.
Avenatti, Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., entrepreneur and author Andrew Yang, and possible candidate Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, will all take the stage at the Democratic Wing Ding fundraiser.
Avenatti raised his profile this year as the attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels and said last month that he did not believe any other candidate could beat President Trump in 2020.
His message to liberal and progressive voters in Iowa is that he is a “fighter,” the likes of which they have not seen in a long time.
[Opinion: The least likable person in the Stormy Daniels saga is teasing a 2020 run]
“I think the party has yearned for a fighter — a fighter for good, if you will — for a significant period of time. And for many, I’m probably seen as that individual,” Avenatti told the Des Moines Register. “I would like to think people would take me seriously … And I think, hopefully, the message that I deliver tomorrow night will be well received by Iowa Democrats.”
After arriving in the Hawkeye State earlier this week, Avenatti said his goal is to learn from locals what issues are important to them.
“I would never think to come to Iowa in order to use the state or the people of the state to raise my profile,” he added. “And obviously if I do this, then I intend to work hard and I know that ultimately the trust of the citizens of Iowa is going to have to be earned.”
Avenatti represented Daniels after she came forward to say she had had sex with Trump more than a decade ago and was paid $130,000 by Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, not to go public with the story.
