You would think a lawyer – especially one of the creepy porn variety – would be better prepared to answer questions, or at least fake the possibility that he knows what he’s talking about.
Alas, Michael Avenatti is neither prepared, knowledgeable, or even capable of pretending to be either of the two.
CNN host’s Jake Tapper and Chris Cuomo – by no stretch of the imagination fans of objectivity – took Avenatti to task in a pair of interviews exploring his client’s latest outrageous accusations against Brett Kavanaugh.
The porn lawyer, long a favorite of the network, wasn’t prepared for anything other than softball questions and as a result, stumbled about incoherently.
Avenatti’s client, Julie Swetnick, thrust absurd accusations into the public square by claiming she went to “well over 10” parties in which she witnessed minors who were being gang-raped, something she speciously claimed to be a victim of later on. Lo and behold, her sworn affidavit claims Kavanaugh was at these parties. Where exactly he was is anybody’s guess.
Asked point blank by Tapper what his client was specifically accusing the Supreme Court nominee of doing, Avenatti refused to answer.
“Is your client claiming that Kavanaugh raped her?” Tapper asked.
“I’m not going to have any further comment on that specific allegation. She’s going to detail that for the FBI and hopefully for the Senate Judiciary Committee, ultimately, in a public hearing. But I’m not going to provide any …” Avenatti fumbled, before being interrupted by Tapper.
The CNN host went on to hammer Avenatti for not specifying the claims.
“Just to say he was present is a really egregious lack of specificity when you’re talking about charges this horrific.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper Presses Avenatti On “Really Egregious Lack Of Specificity” In Kavanaugh Allegations pic.twitter.com/KH8ij49nmd
— Ryan Saavedra 🇺🇸 (@RealSaavedra) September 26, 2018
Next up on CNN was an interview with Chris Cuomo, brother of New York governor Andrew Cuomo who oversaw a time period in government that one journalist claimed made the legislative body “the most sexually abusive workplace in the nation.”
Buckling to Cuomo’s probing questions, Avenatti revised his client’s claims to indicate she didn’t really know gang rapes were occurring at the time.
He then made a sharp pivot to accuse Cuomo of victim-blaming.
CNN’s Cuomo: Why would Julie Swetnick attend parties she said were known for gang rape?
Avenatti: You should believe her because she’s the third Kavanaugh accuser so obviously there’s a pattern here. pic.twitter.com/S1Qq4YBnFh
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 27, 2018
The thing is, she can’t accuse Kavanaugh of anything specifically, because doing so sets her up for a perjury charge should she testify to the matter. Avenatti knows this but believes the average American is too dumb to pick up on it.
Swetnick’s lone allegation was swiftly countered by 60 of Kavanaugh’s classmates who submitted a letter to the Judiciary stating they don’t have a clue who she is.
60 of Brett Kavanaugh’s classmates submit letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee strongly denying the allegations against the SCOTUS nominee and insist they’ve never even met anyone named Julie Swetnik. pic.twitter.com/egEHGfMbmj
— Ellen L. Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) September 26, 2018
Cuomo’s solid line of questioning had to have come as a surprise to Avenatti who has partied it up frequently with hosts of the network while appearing as a guest more times than one can count.
When CNN turns on you, you’ve clearly jumped the shark. The good news is that Avenatti’s incompetence helps to further sink these accusations against Kavanaugh as the baseless sham it is.
