Stormy Daniels’ former attorney Michael Avenatti said he is willing to testify for Donald Trump at the former president’s criminal hush money trial in New York.
Avenatti, who is currently serving a 19-year sentence for extortion, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement and other federal crimes, told the New York Post in an interview from jail that he has been in contact with Trump’s defense team.
“The defense has contacted me,” he said, adding “I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defense for the better part of year.”
Avenatti rocketed to fame in 2018 when he represented Daniels after she sued Trump to get out of a nondisclosure agreement she’d signed in exchange for $130,000. The payment was to keep quiet about their alleged affair during the 2016 presidential election.
Trump now faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to pay hush money to Daniels and the trial is underway in New York.
Avenatti told the New York Post that he expects Daniels to commit perjury if she’s called as a witness in the case.
“Stormy Daniels is going to say whatever she believes is going to assist Stormy Daniels and putting more money in her pocket,” Avenatti said. “If Stormy Daniels lips are moving, she’s lying for money.”
It’s worth remembering that Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison in 2022 for stealing nearly $300,000 from Daniels. Daniels played a key role in his conviction as she testified during the trial that Avenatti lied to her and betrayed her.
The disgraced attorney insists he is not fishing for a pardon in a potential second Trump term, but said both him and the ex-president have been targets of a ‘weaponized’ justice system.
“I think that we were both targeted by the justice system,” he said. “There’s a lot of people on the left that were very concerned about my potential rise within the Democratic Party and my potential rise in Democratic politics. And the fact that I was not someone that was easily controlled.”
