Michael Avenatti, lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels and potential 2020 presidential candidate, said Monday he believes President Trump should find a replacement for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh amid an allegation of sexual misconduct.
“I just think if the president was smart, with everything else going on right now, he ought to pull the nomination and nominate someone new,” Avenatti told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in an interview Monday evening.
The comments come after Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old professor at Palo Alto University, accused Kavanaugh of forcing himself upon her in the 1980s while they were both in high school. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Ford took a polygraph test, which indicated she was being honest detailing the alleged incident.
Kavanaugh strongly denies the allegations and the White House has stood by its nominee.
Cuomo said everyone needs an opportunity to be heard and pressed Avenatti on what kind of precedent withdrawing a nomination due to an accusation would set in the future.
“I think we’re beyond that, from what I understand, relating to the lie detector test being passed, which, of course, is not admissible in a court of law, but lie detector tests are used routinely for law enforcement and security clearances at the highest levels of the federal government,” Avenatti said.
“I think it should have been aired a lot earlier… I think it’s a heck of a risk to hold on to something this explosive for the 11th hour.” Stormy Daniels’ lawyer @MichaelAvenatti jabs Senate Democrats for their handling of the Kavanaugh allegations https://t.co/3MGNpzInL7 pic.twitter.com/EjxQbzWJpE
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) September 18, 2018
Avenatti also said the allegation should have been raised earlier in the confirmation process. Given that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., knew about the allegations for weeks but only referred a letter from Ford to the FBI last week as her story came to light, Avenatti said the decision to withhold the information raises some questions.
“I think it should have been aired a lot earlier, frankly. I think it’s a heck of a risk to hold on to something this explosive until the 11th hour,” Avenatti said.
The Senate is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Monday to hear from both Kavanaugh and Ford, which will postpone a Thursday vote to move Kavanaugh’s nomination forward.
“This isn’t going to be adjudicated in one day or even two days,” Avenatti said. “An accusation of this nature could not be fully adjudicated in that short a period of time before the Senate Judiciary Committee. You would need a couple of weeks, at a minimum, for the presentation of evidence.”
“This would have to go through an extensive process,” Avenatti added. “And to what end? There’s other individuals that are more qualified than this judge to sit on the Supreme Court and his nomination should be pulled.”
