Getty Michael Avenatti says he's exploring a 2020 run for POTUS and said more details are coming int he weeks ahead.
Michael Avenatti is the lawyer best-known for representing Stormy Daniels, the porn star who allegedly had an affair with President Trump. But Avenatti also represents Julie Swetnick, the third person to come forward with allegations about inappropriate behavior by Brett Kavanaugh.
On Friday, the Senate leadership agreed to postpone the confirmation vote on Kavanaugh for a week so that the FBI had time to investigate the charges against Kavanaugh. A week is just a week — seven days isn’t a long time for an investigation. But by mid-morning on Saturday, Avenatti said that federal investigators still hadn’t reached out to him about Swetnick’s claims.
We have yet to hear from the FBI. When and if we do, we will promptly disclose to them all information and witnesses in our possession. We continue to request this opportunity as we have been doing for days. My client is telling the truth and deserves to be heard and not shammed.
He wrote, “We have yet to hear from the FBI. When and if we do, we will promptly disclose to them all information and witnesses in our possession. We continue to request this opportunity as we have been doing for days. My client is telling the truth and deserves to be heard and not shammed [sic].”
Avenatti Says He Can Bring Forward Witnesses to Confirm Swetnick’s Story
.@MICHAELAVENATTI: If FBI investigation is not curtailed by White House or others, if they are permitted to do their job as they do every day in this country #Kavanagh will not survive this process, if they are permitted to interview witnesses who know of these allegations #AMJoy
Julie Swetnick has signed a sworn statement saying that Kavanaugh helped to drug women during the 1980s so that they could be gang-raped at parties. On Friday, Avenatti appeared at the Texas Tribune festival to talk about Swetnick’s statement and about Kavanaugh’s nomination.
He told the audience that he has several witnesses who can corroborate Swetnick’s claims about Kavanaugh — and he vowed to bring forward those witnesses soon. He said he expected to bring those witnesses forward within the next 72 hours.
Avenatti said, “We’ve been asking for an FBI investigation and for my client to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the requests have been ignored. I know the identities of witnesses Julie said could corroborate her story, and I’m going to bring them forward soon.”
The Senate vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination will be delayed for a week while the FBI conducts an investigation into allegations against the Supreme Court nominee. But it wasn’t immediately clear whether the FBI will investigate all the charges against Kavanaugh — including the accusations made by Julie Swetnick and Debbie Ramirez – or whether the investigation will be restricted to the allegations made by Christine Ford, who says that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were both in high school.
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