Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels, said Rudy Giuliani’s bombshell revelations have only further escalated their case against President Trump and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing to get out of a nondisclosure agreement she signed that bars her from openly discussing an alleged affair she had with Trump more than a decade ago. Both Trump and Cohen have also been sued for defamation.
“I think he’s poured gasoline and kerosene and jet fuel all together on the fire. And I think ultimately the likelihood of us deposing the president has gone north, or up significantly, more than it was previously by way of the comments that he made,” Avenatti said during an interview Thursday on WABC Radio’s “Curtis and Cosby.”
Avenatti also claimed Cohen’s “emails and text messages” were monitored.
“I can confirm that there were electronic communications, emails and text messages, that were being monitored relating to Mr. Cohen, in addition to the phone wiretap,” Avenatti said. NBC originally reported the wiretap Thursday, but after Avenatti’s interview that report was corrected to say Cohen’s phones were actually being monitored using a device called a pen register, which records numbers called from a certain phone line and the duration of calls.
Giuliani, a new addition to Trump’s legal team, slammed Avenatti Thursday, calling him an “ambulance chaser” and accusing him of cooking up allegations with Daniels against Trump.
Giuliani revealed in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday evening that Trump reimbursed Cohen for a $130,000 payment to Daniels.
Trump admitted in a series of tweets Thursday morning that he reimbursed Cohen through a monthly retainer and pushed back against the idea that he may have violated campaign finance laws.
