As you’ve been inundated by wall-to-wall coverage about things that Brett Kavanaugh almost certainly did not do, you’ve been missing out on coverage of other non-existent Trump scandals.
For the past couple of weeks, Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti has been making the rounds claiming to have dirt on Kavanaugh. He’s sensationalistically claimed that he has evidence Kavanaugh was part of a “rape gang,” presumably because he knows that useful idiots in the media will give airtime to such nonsense. Rachel Maddow was one of them.
1/ If witnesses can show Kavanaugh took part in multiple gang rapes/trains of men with drunk/drugged women, as @MichaelAvenatti says on @Maddow we have a much bigger problem than a flawed SCOTUS nominee.
— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) September 25, 2018
He’s certainly earned the “creepy porn lawyer” nickname Tucker Carlson has given him.
Avenatti hopping on the anti-Kavanaugh train is perhaps evidence that he’s jumping ship on his other anti-Trump initiative, representing porn-star Stormy Daniels. He’s representing Stormy in a defamation case, which is probably coming to a close. Stormy sued Trump in April after he said a sketch of a man Stormy claims threatened her in 2011 to keep quiet about their alleged affair was a “con job.”
A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! https://t.co/9Is7mHBFda
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
But as it turns out, that tweet is covered by the First Amendment.
As the Associated Press reported: “Judge S. James Otero said in U.S. District Court that a tweet the president wrote in April appears to be ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ and speech protected under the First Amendment. Otero said he would rule later, but that Trump’s statement seemed like an opinion and speech protected under the First Amendment.” “To allow the complaint to go forward and to have one consider this to be defamatory in the context it was made would have a chilling effect,” Otero said.
This would be consistent with prior rulings that dealt with Trump’s comments on Twitter. Trump was previously sued by Cheryl Jacobus after attacking her as a “dummy” who begged him for a campaign job. That case was dismissed in Trump’s favor.
Great job on @donlemon tonight @kayleighmcenany @cherijacobus begged us for a job. We said no and she went hostile. A real dummy! @CNN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016
What will CNN do once the Stormy lawsuit is over? CNN tends to milk their stories for everything they can – and they’ve interviewed Avenatti 59 times in just a two month period, or basically one appearance per day. Avenatti, meanwhile, owes over $5 million to the IRS so it’s no wonder he’s already looking for a new case to plant his flag on.
