Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman tore into MSNBC host Ari Melber’s interview with the previous attorney for former porn star Stormy Daniels.
The attorney, Michael Avenatti, called Melber from Terminal Island Prison on Tuesday night about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment against former President Donald Trump for allegedly paying $130,000 to Daniels. He said Trump will be convicted since he cannot get a fair trial in New York, but the case will not damage the former president to the extent that some predicted.
Melber then asked Ackerman for his thoughts on the interview, to which he argued Avenatti has no knowledge about the case.
“I wouldn’t take his word on either of those two things. He knows nothing about this case,” Ackerman said. ““He was not involved in the mechanics of the case. He was not involved in the payoffs. He was not involved in how it was set up. He’s not a witness in this case. The witnesses in this case are — it’s not just Michael Cohen like he says. It’s also David Pecker, who was the head of the National Inquirer.”
“When you say he doesn’t know things, you mean he was not the lawyer at the time that this went down?” Melber asked
“Right. He has no personal knowledge,” Akerman responded.
“He does know a lot of things that most people don’t know, whether you like it or not. I mean, you might be thinking that he’s just criticizing the D.A. or whatever your reasons are, but Avenatti knows what Stormy Daniels’ state of mind was at the time that this came out in ’18. He knows how he dealt with Mr. Cohen at that time. He and Mr. Cohen both ended up going to prison. What did you think about his concern about Cohen as a witness?” (RELATED: Report: MSNBC Says They ‘Appropriately Covered’ Michael Avenatti)
Akerman agreed that Cohen has “problems as a witness,” but he questioned Avenatti’s credibility. Melber said the issue of credibility “applies to both lawyers.”
“But Avenatti’s not gonna be a witness in this case! He’s got nothing, zero, to do with it. He has no knowledge as to any of the allegations in this complaint. He talks about the case being stale. That was a motion that was already made by Donald Trump and denied by Judge Merchan,” Ackerman argued.
“I would say based on the situation, he’s unlikely to be a witness, but for our reporting purposes, you don’t know who all the witnesses will be,” Melber shot back.
Ackerman said adamantly that Bragg will not place Avenatti on the witness stand, jokingly added Santa Claus would be more likely to testify in the case.
“Well, we don’t know, but it could be Santa Claus too. It’s not gonna be Avenatti,” he told Melber.
Avenatti further argued in the interview that a former president can only be tried in a “nearly perfect prosecuted case.” He further noted there are “critical facts and piece of evidence” relating to the case which could be damaging to the prosecution, stating that he broke ties with Daniels after he learned much of the evidence used in the case were “untrue.”
Avenatti, who stopped representing Daniels in March 2019, was found guilty in February 2020 of all three charges relating to his scheme to extort over $20 million from Nike. He was further charged with alleged aggravated identify theft of Daniels as he represented her.
Watch this classic interview between Avenatti and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson: