After his arrest in Los Angeles for alleged domestic violence, lawyer Michael Avenatti on Thursday strongly denied he had ever been violent toward a woman as his first and second wives rallied to his defense.
“I want to be clear: I DID NOT commit domestic violence nor have I ever committed domestic violence,” Avenatti said in a tweet Thursday.
“I did not strike any woman, nor have I ever.”
Avenatti’s first and second wives said he had never been violent to either of them — or to anyone else.
In a subsequent tweet Thursday morning, Avenatti compared the allegation against him to a recent unsubstantiated claim by 20-year-old internet provocateur Jacob Wohl that special counsel Robert Mueller had committed sexual misconduct against a woman in 2010. Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that sent President Donald Trump to the White House.
Wohl’s purported private investigative company Surerfire Intelligence — whose original phone number connected to the house of Wohl’s mother — tweeted Wednesday after Avenatti’s arrest that “Surefire Intelligence strikes again.”
The Trump supporter Wohl replied to Avenatti’s claim Thursday morning by calling the lawyer “a SICKO” for implying Wohl was somehow involved in Avenatti’s arrest.
Mueller’s spokesman Peter Carr last month said the allegations “that women were offered money to make false claims” about Mueller had been referred to the FBI for investigation.
The 47-year-old Avenatti — who became nationally famous this year for his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in legal issues related to her purported ex-lover Trump — was booked by LA police Wednesday afternoon on a charge of felony domestic violence.
Avenatti was released within several hours after posting $50,000 bail. Afterward, he said any accusations about him of physical abuse are “fabricated, and meant to do harm to my reputation.”
Daniels has not commented on the arrest.
She is scheduled to make a speech Thursday in England at the Oxford Union at Oxford University.
The attorney, who is considering a run for president in 2020, is due to make his first court appearance in the case on Dec. 5 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Police said an unidentified victim had made a complaint against Avenatti on Tuesday night in the Century City area of LA.
Cops, who have called the case “an ongoing investigation,” would not release any additional details about the incident on Thursday morning when CNBC inquired.
The news site TMZ was the first outlet to report the arrest — but erroneously stated that Avenatti’s estranged wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, had filed the police report against him.
Storie-Avenatti’s lawyer said, “Ms. Storie-Avenatti was not subject to any such incident on Tuesday night. Further, she was not at Mr. Avenatti’s apartment on the date that this alleged incident occurred.”
“My client states that there has never been domestic violence in her relationship with Michael and that she has never known Michael to be physically violent toward anyone,” the wife’s lawyer said.
Storie-Avenatti told CNN, “I haven’t seen Michael in months. It’s a complete fabrication. It’s a lie. It’s all a lie.”
“He wouldn’t hit anybody. Especially a woman. He’s got two daughters,” Storie-Avenatti said.
Avenatti’s first wife, Christine Avenatti-Carlin, said in a prepared statement, “I’ve known Michael for the last 26 years, we met when he was 21 years old and we were married for 13 years.”
“Michael has always been a loving kind father to our two daughters and husband [to me]. He has never been abusive to me or anyone else. He is a very good man.”
Avenatti began representing Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in early 2018 after reports that she had been paid money from Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her agreement to keep quiet about an affair with Trump a decade earlier. The White House has denied any such affair.
Cohen has said that Trump directed him to make the payment to Daniels.
