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  • this is an individual that lies on a consistent basis.

  • if it was up to me which it's not I would indict the president.

  • I'm gonna put Donald Trump on trial.

  • You are something of a folk hero now.

  • well wait until we actually accomplish something in the coming months.

  • Who is Michael Avenatti? Well that really depends on who you ask.

  • Creepy porn lawyer. He's a lowlife. He's Donald Trump's worst nightmare...

  • He's got a fearlessness right, and he's fighter.

  • Stormy Daniels court beefcake Michael Avenatti

  • but there's one thing we can all agree on

  • Michael Avenatti has thrust himself onto the national scene as

  • Donald Trump's most virulent adversary.

  • I think the president will not serve out his term.

  • Michael Avenatti's gotten significant traction in his legal battles against

  • president Trump and the president's allies .

  • Are you trying to win a case or take down a president?

  • This is a search for the truth.

  • this is the story of how a powerful lawyer and his

  • porn star client became Trump's worst nightmare.

  • This president has had his eye off the ball now basically from day one.

  • But I don't think the president wants to sit

  • across a conference room table from me and answer questions under oath but

  • if he does perhaps we can do it this afternoon.

  • Now there is one thing Michael avenatti and Donald Trump do have in common- they both love the camera

  • He doesn't have much of a political record but he does know his way around a TV studio.

  • A day doesn't seem to go by without at least one news outlet giving

  • Mr. avenatti some oxygen and that unflappable look on his face is no bluff

  • it's been cultivated from years of experience of winning high-profile legal battles

  • But how did he get here?

  • Michael Avenatti was born in 1971 in Sacramento, California.

  • Armed with a bachelor's in political science he went to George Washington law school

  • and graduated first in his class.

  • As a high-powered LA attorney he won more than a billion dollars in judgments for

  • his clients including a 10 million dollar defamation case against Paris Hilton

  • and a 40 million dollar embezzlement lawsuit involving KPMG.

  • It was in 2006 when avenatti first went to battle with Donald Trump .

  • Avenatti sued Trump and TV producer Mark Burnett for allegedly stealing his clients idea for

  • their hit show The Apprentice.

  • The case led to a settlement for an undisclosed amount.

  • These and other big successes gained him a reputation for his bold and

  • fearless tactics in and out of the courtroom.

  • He spent a couple of years working at a political consulting firm run by rahm emanuel and that was

  • where he says that he really learned how to play hardball.

  • When preparing for cases Avenatti will refer to the title of a book by former Intel CEO Andrew Grove

  • which is only the paranoid survive.

  • did we mention that he's also a professional race car driver?

  • A self-professed adrenaline junkie Avenatti raced in

  • over 30 professional races. Though he's yet to quit his day job one of his teams

  • did place seventh in its class in 2015.

  • Racing aspirations aside Avenatti claims

  • to be motivated by his desire to argue strong cases for good people.

  • one such person turns out to be stormy Daniels

  • Avenatti burst onto the national stage

  • this year as a lawyer representing Stormy Daniels in her hush money case

  • involving President Trump.

  • Are they gotta come out and call my client a liar once again?

  • I hope they do because we're gonna double down and I think Michael Cohen as

  • I've been saying for some time is gonna flip on the president.

  • He scored a huge victory when Michael Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance fraud and named

  • Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator to pay off a porn star just prior to the 2016 election.

  • We're gonna get a chance to depose Michael Cohen and Donald Trump

  • Avenatti is banking on the 1998 precedent that got Clinton impeached for

  • lying under oath. If that ruling is upheld Trump may be forced to take the

  • stand which Avenatti believes will put him in a very uncomfortable position

  • having to choose between either lying under oath revealing an unseemly

  • cover-up or trigger a constitutional crisis by ignoring a subpoena,

  • none of which are good options for the president

  • but the case hasn't been all victorious- a federal judge dismissed stormy Daniels

  • defamation lawsuit against President Trump calling her quote horse face and

  • calling her lawyer third-rate.

  • but that hasn't deterred a Avenatti's resolve.

  • He's taken up a number of other legal challenges to the Trump administration

  • as well. He's representing multiple cases involving children separated from their

  • families in the aftermath of Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

  • This policy should end immediately.

  • As well as representing Julie Swetnick in the sexual misconduct allegations against

  • newly appointed Supreme Court justice, Brent Kavanagh.

  • All of these women cannot be lying it doesn't make any sense.

  • He's even gone so far as to go justice Kavanaugh to sue his client.

  • Are you trying to out Trump Trump by using the media?

  • But his risky tactics backfired

  • this time and many Democrats were furious with avenatti for pushing

  • unsubstantiated claims which ultimately helped confirm Kavanaugh.

  • Certainly his tactics are very Trumpian, he says outrageous things

  • uses oneupmanship to force the hands of his opponent just the same way

  • that President Trump does.

  • I will tell you that at least one of those women

  • claimed to be pregnant at the time.

  • This way he could be really worthy adversary of the president in the end.

  • And now there's this.

  • There's been a lot of attention about whether you're gonna run for president in 2020

  • how serious are you at this moment in time about that?

  • Just so we're clear on this- the lawyer suing the president is

  • considering running for president. Talk about unprecedented.

  • Most of the world knows you as the lawyer for a porn star and somebody that goes on cable TV a lot

  • why should you be taken seriously as a presidential candidate?

  • Its not yet clear how serious Avenatti is about running and not just kind of being part of the media circus.

  • I don't know whether I'm gonna run or whether I'm not gonna run.

  • but considering the current landscape and landscape in which

  • President Trump won just two years ago anything is possible

  • you're currently leading the pack among 2020 contenders on the Democratic side.

  • But Avenatti isn't without controversy himself in October

  • he was ordered to pay almost five million dollars to an attorney who

  • worked with him in its former firm. He's also reported to owe over 1 million

  • dollars in federal taxes and corporate debts while enjoying a lavish lifestyle

  • not to mention a bitter divorce.

  • Sleaze bag. Sleaze bag!

  • But in the era of Trump where scandals are so normal no one knows if that will even matter.

  • The Democrats need to fight fire with fire.

  • When they go low I say we hit harder.

  • One thing is certain- Avenatti versus Trump would make great television!

this is an individual that lies on a consistent basis.

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