Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, reacted with shock on Sunday after Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani appeared before him in an interview claiming to know only half the facts about Donald Trump's hush payment to Daniels.
Appearing directly after an interview with Giuliani on ABC's This Week, Avenatti checked with host George Stephanopoulos to be sure the rant from Trump's lawyer had not been a prank.
"Did that interview just happen?" Avenatti asked. "I mean, I'm not being spoofed, right?"
"You heard the whole thing?" Stephanopoulos assured him.
"It's an absolute unmitigated disaster for Rudy Giuliani and the president," Avenatti said. "It's a train wreck. I can't believe that that actually just happened. I mean, what we witnessed by Rudy Giuliani may be one of the worst TV appearances by any attorney on behalf of a client in modern times."
"He now expects the American people to believe that he doesn't really know the facts, that as to every key question you asked, he hasn't communicated with the president about it," he continued. "I mean, this guy is all over the map over the last 72 hours on some very simple facts that should be very straightforward. I think it is obvious to the American people that this is a cover up."
According to Avenatti, there is "no question" that Trump's payment to Daniels "has everything to do with the [Trump] campaign."
He also insisted that it Giuliani's claim that Daniels approached Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for a payoff is "absolutely false."
"That is not what happened," he explained. "My client was preparing to tell her story. My client did not approach Michael Cohen, did not have anyone approach Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen approached my client and her counsel in an effort to shut her up in the days before the election."
"All you have to do is look at what just happened in that interview that they are attempting to snow the American people and when the facts and the evidence come out, it's going to be a disaster for Michael Cohen, the president and now Rudy Giuliani," Avenatti said.
