Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels, said Wednesday night he thinks President Donald Trump will not serve out his term as president and will be forced to resign.
CNN anchor Don Lemon asked Avenatti about the recent comments from Trump's new attorney Rudy Giuliani revealing the president reimbursed his personal attorney for the $130,000 payment to Daniels, which is contrary to the president's earlier statements about the matter.
"What do you think this means legally, if anything, for the president?" Lemon asked.
"Well, I think this shows that the president has significant potential criminal liability for felonies associated with campaign finance violations as well as potential money laundering violations as well as potential fraud violations relating to these law firm invoices that we've now heard about," Avenattis said. "I mean, this opens the pandoras box if you will into serious, serious issues for Donald Trump."
Avenatti added that he thinks Trump will not serve out his term as president and that he will be forced to resign.
"I'm going to say it again, Mr. Trump will not serve out his term," Avenatti said. "No way, no how. he will be forced to ultimately resign. This is a bombshell."
Avenatti filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump on his client’s behalf Monday, which followed a prior suit about the hush agreement Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly made with Daniels. Avenatti chided Trump for being undisciplined and then compared himself to Mueller, who is leading the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has claimed she had sex with Trump in 2006 and received the $130,000 hush payment in 2016.
Trump responded directly on Twitter to the confirmation he entered into an agreement with Daniels, specifically denying an money from the campaign was used in the transaction.
"Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA," Trump tweeted.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991992302267785216
Trump went on to note NDAs are "very common among celebrities and people of wealth," and he said the NDA in question was "used to stop the false and extortionist accusations" being made by "Ms.Clifford (Daniels)."
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991994433750142976
He said Daniels' claims were made despite the fact she "signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair," and he concluded by reiterating his point that "money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll" in the transaction.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991995845120753664