Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Trump, denied Tuesday that he was weighing into a Texas child separation case as a publicity stunt, despite spending the weekend in Iowa exploring a 2020 Democratic bid for the White House.
“I’ve been representing dozens of mothers and children for weeks now, traveling around the country,” Avenatti said, according to the Associated Press. “My record speaks for itself.”
An immigration court judge in Houston on Tuesday denied Avenatti’s request to dismiss the removal case involving a 9-year-old Guatemalan boy following his mother’s deportation from the U.S. in June, per the wire service.
Avenatti and Ricardo de Anda, another attorney present, had pressed the judge to immediately reunite the child with his family by allowing them to take him to an airport and put him on a flight to Guatemala City, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Judge Chris Brisack, however, only consented to having the boy “voluntarily depart” in the next 60 days through established processes.
Avenatti told the crowd Friday at the Democratic Wing Ding event in Iowa to adopt a less civil approach to taking on Republicans in upcoming electoral contests.
[Democrat Eric Swalwell: Michael Avenatti as president could be another ‘nightmare’ like Trump]
