Porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti warned President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to “Buckle Up Buttercup,” comments that come after it was reported that Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen entered a plea deal with prosecutors and will appear in court Tuesday afternoon.
“.@RudyGiuliani Buckle Up Buttercup. You and your client completely misplayed this…,” Avenatti tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
.@RudyGiuliani Buckle Up Buttercup. You and your client completely misplayed this… https://t.co/peLpswrDO1
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) August 21, 2018
“The developments of today will permit us to have the stay lifted in the civil case & should also permit us to proceed with an expedited deposition of Trump under oath about what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. We will disclose it all to the public,” he said in a separate tweet.
The developments of today will permit us to have the stay lifted in the civil case & should also permit us to proceed with an expedited deposition of Trump under oath about what he knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. We will disclose it all to the public.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) August 21, 2018
Cohen, who is under investigation for potentially violating tax or campaign finance laws, will appear at a federal courthouse in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, where he is anticipated to plead guilty to charges related to bank and tax fraud, and campaign finance violation, according to the Washington Post.
The plea deal was related to various payments to women Cohen paid on behalf of Trump in exchange for their silence on alleged affairs with the president. Cohen does not allegedly need to cooperate with federal authorities as part of the deal, the New York Times reports.
Avenatti said he wasn’t surprised that Cohen has reached a plea deal, although he was shocked by the timing.
“I’m not surprised by the news,” Avenatti said in an interview with MSNBC. “The only thing that I’m surprised about is that it took this long.”
Avenatti also said he was certain that Cohen would surrender damaging information on Trump, and noted he’s “been active in connection with the case on behalf of” Daniels.
“I know the likelihood of him providing damaging information about the president is 100 percent,” Avenatti said.
Avenatti’s client Daniels has been involved in a legal dispute with Trump over an extramarital affair. Cohen paid her $130,000 in exchange for her silence on the affair, but Daniels filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming the nondisclosure agreement she signed was invalid because Trump did not sign it.
Trump has denied he was involved in an affair with Daniels.
