Politics

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Utter Bulls***’ — Avenatti Denies ‘Political Interests’ Are Paying Him

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Michael Avenatti, porn star Stormy Daniels’s attorney, denied on Thursday that any “political interests” are funding his legal battles against President Donald Trump.

“I’ve answered this repeatedly on my Twitter feed; I would encourage you to go back and look at exactly what I’ve said on Twitter, related to who is paying my bill. We have been very clear about this,” Avenatti told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a phone interview. “There’s no question about my position; we’ve stated it repeatedly on Twitter. Go back and look at what we’ve stated. Nothing has changed.”

“I’ll add this: any suggestion or claim that somehow this is being funded by the Left or funded by some PAC or funded by left-wing political interests or funded by any other political interests is complete and utter bullshit, and you can quote me on that,” the lawyer continued. “It’s nothing more than a distraction meant to distract away from the issues of the case for which people on the Right have no answer for.”

Avenatti repeatedly pointed to an April 30 tweet in which he said, “The only source of outside funds for the legal fight we are waging is the [CrowdJustice] site and Ms. Daniels’ personal funds. No PACs, no political party, no special interests, no fat cat donors. The haters need to come up with a new conspiracy theory.”

TheDCNF asked Avenatti about his funding source after The Hill ran a Thursday column that claimed “Avenatti needs to come forward with exactly who is financing his operation, who his sources were for detailed banking information, and whether he really is an attorney solely representing Stormy Daniels or just using her as cover to wage a political operation.”

The only sources of funding for his legal battle against Trump are a small payment Daniels gave him up front, plus money raised on a crowdfunding site, CrowdJustice, Avenatti indicated to TheDCNF.

“Ms. Daniels paid a de minimis amount — plus the CrowdJustice, period,” Avenatti said. To date, the crowdfunding effort has raised over $425,000.

“Ms. Daniels paid a de minimis amount. She’s no longer paying me, which is consistent with her tweet — people are making a big deal out of this tweet, which is more bullshit — and then the CrowdJustice.org,” he added in response to a follow-up question. “Who’s paying Michael Cohen’s bills? Who’s paying Donald Trump’s bills? Who’s paying those bills? Do we know?”

“So it’s exclusively those two sources [CrowdJustice and Daniels], right?” TheDCNF asked.

“I’ve answered this question repeatedly,” Avenatti answered. “Go back and look at my tweet.”

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