Michael Avenatti: ‘Complete garbage’ to blame me for Kavanaugh

Michael Avenatti says ‘threatened’ politicians who blame him for the Senate’s decision to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court are talking ‘complete garbage’.

The lawyer, who rose to national prominence by representing the adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her suit against the President, produced the testimony of Julie Swetnick, the third woman to accuse Justice Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. She claimed that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were part of a group who regularly spiked the punch at parties so that women could be gang-raped. Her allegations came under scrutiny following her interview with NBC News.

Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said, ‘I think we should have focused on the serious allegations that certainly appeared very credible to me that would be our best course of action.’

And a Democratic senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee complained to CNN: ‘It wasn’t helpful because the story became about Avenatti.’

But Avenatti said, ‘not a single vote was impacted by my involvement.

‘Collins stated she did not believe Dr Ford – end of story. This myth is being advanced by politicians that are threatened by me and rightfully so.’

Is that really the ‘end’ of the ‘story’ though? The no-nonsense lawyer appears to be overlooking the following part of Sen. Susan Collins’s address to the Senate:

‘Some of the allegations levied against Judge Kavanaugh illustrate why the presumption of innocence is so important. I am thinking, in particular, not of the allegations raised by Professor Ford, but of the allegation that when he was a teenager, Judge Kavanaugh drugged multiple girls and used their weakened state to facilitate gang rape. This outlandish allegation was put forth without any credible supporting evidence and simply parroted public statements of others. That such an allegation can find its way into the Supreme Court confirmation process is a stark reminder about why the presumption of innocence is so ingrained in our American consciousness.’

Avenatti clarified to Cockburn that he thinks both Republicans and Democrats are threatened by him.

‘See Steve Bannon’s comments on Bill Maher a week ago. That tells you everything you need to know,’ he said, referring to the former White House chief strategist’s thought that the lawyer had a ‘fearlessness’ which means he could ‘go through a lot of that field, if he decides to stick with it, like a scythe through grass.’

A Democratic Senate aide told Vanity Fair: ‘Every time Michael Avenatti’s name comes out, it hurts. He is toxic and counterproductive and should go away.’ If, as is rumoured, the lawyer is considering a 2020 run, he may have some bridges to mend with these ‘threatened’ Democrats to earn their backing…