Rudy Giuliani, a member of President Trump’s legal team, says he is not interested in debating porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti, responding to Avenatti’s suggestion that the two go head-to-head in a televised debate.
“I wouldn’t debate that guy if they paid me $10 million,” Giuliani told Politico. “He’s a liar. All he does is put out statements in the press and they fawn all over him.”
“I don’t debate people like him. I’m not going to give him all that time on television,” Giuliani added. “What did he ever run for? What public service did he ever do? I’m going to debate him? This guy is a clown. He wants to do a debate like Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs?”
Giuliani expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Business Insider, where he accused Avenatti of “pimping for money.”
“I don’t get involved with pimps,” Giuliani said. “The media loves to give him room because he makes these roundabout charges and they turn out to mean nothing. I think he’s going to get himself in serious trouble.”
He argued that the debate wouldn’t be “fair” and noted he prefers to debate “really intelligent, skilled” people such as Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz.
Earlier in the week, Avenatti suggested it would be “helpful for the public” if he and Giuliani participated in a debate.
“It would be very helpful for the public to witness a discussion between Mr. Giuliani and me concerning the facts of the case, etc. I am willing to participate on any network provided both sides a provided a fair shake. I am also willing to do it on 12-hrs notice,” Avenatti said on Twitter Tuesday.
Giuliani made a series of media appearances this month, including an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity last week where he disclosed that Trump reimbursed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen $130,000 for a hush money payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
That appeared to contradict Trump saying he knew nothing about the payment last month aboard Air Force One last month, and Giuliani later said that Trump only became aware of the nature of the payments payments very recently.
Daniels filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming the nondisclosure agreement she signed should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign it and has sued Cohen and Trump for defamation. Trump denies the alleged Daniels affair.
