Attorney Michael Avenatti attacked Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz Monday after the two discussed whether Avenatti’s client Stormy Daniels engaged in extortion by taking hush money from President Trump’s former personal attorney to remain quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.
“So @TuckerCarlson you are now accusing my client @StormyDaniels of the crime of extortion?” Avenatti tweeted Monday evening. “You are an ignorant piece of garbage with no morals. And why do you continue to avoid having me on to talk about the facts? Answer-because you know you will be humiliated on your own show.”
So @TuckerCarlson you are now accusing my client @StormyDaniels of the crime of extortion? You are an ignorant piece of garbage with no morals. And why do you continue to avoid having me on to talk about the facts? Answer-because you know you will be humiliated on your own show. https://t.co/DRI0W6Lddr
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) December 11, 2018
Avenatti also threatened to go after Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of raping and trafficking multiple underage girls. Epstein had been represented by Dershowitz, who acknowledged this month that he still is in touch with Epstein and has advised him on several issues since he’s “still technically his lawyer.”
“.@AlanDersh – I’ll make you a deal. You stop attacking my client Stormy Daniels with falsehoods and bogus claims of extortion (like you did today) and I will not start attacking your VERY close friend and client the infamous pedephile [sic.] Epstein while asking what you knew and when,” Avenatti said in a separate tweet.
.@AlanDersh – I’ll make you a deal. You stop attacking my client Stormy Daniels with falsehoods and bogus claims of extortion (like you did today) and I will not start attacking your VERY close friend and client the infamous pedephile Epstein while asking what you knew and when.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) December 11, 2018
Avenatti later said Dershowitz “embarassed” himself with the appearance, and ordered Dershowitz to “wake up and learn the facts.” He said Daniels did not threaten disclosure and that Daniels was approached by Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
Dershowitz replied by asking Avenatti to explain why Cohen would contact Daniels “unless there was, at least, a threat to disclose.”
Please explain why Cohen would approach Daniels and offer money unless there was, at the very least, a threat to disclose? Makes no sense.
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) December 12, 2018
Daniels was paid $130,000 by Cohen before the 2016 election to remain quiet about an alleged affair with Trump that happened more than 10 years ago. But Daniels filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming the nondisclosure agreement she signed to keep quiet about her affair should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign it.
Avenatti’s remarks were prompted after Carlson asked Dershowitz whether it was “unfair to describe this scenario as extortion.”
“It is absolutely textbook extortion and there ought to be a prosecution of any person, man or woman, who approaches any candidate or anybody else and says, ‘Unless you pay me money, I’m going to reveal a sex act that occurred,’” Dershowitz said.
Trump has denied the affair with Daniels.
