Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti said he believes he is fighting for a “righteous” cause by going after President Trump.
Avenatti did opposition research for Democratic political operative Rahm Emanuel during college and law school, but said he has not been involved in politics in over 20 years.
Host Anderson Cooper challenged Avenatti on his past work for Democrats on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, commenting that it “sounds political” for him now to be involved in a case against a Republican president.
“No, it sounds righteous,” the Los Angeles trial lawyer responded.
“This is about the cover-up. This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb.”
Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 of his own money as part of a non-disclosure agreement where she promised not to speak about an extra-marital affair she had with Trump in 2006.
The payout, made eleven days before the 2016 presidential election, may violate campaign finance laws, critics argue.
More recently, the president’s lawyers warned the 39-year-old adult film star in a court filing that she may already have to pay “in excess of $20 million” for violating her non-disclosure agreement.
“I might even take an extended vacation on her dime,” Cohen told “Vanity Fair” last week.
“People don’t threaten people with $20 million lawsuits, that they’re gonna take their home and take an extended vacation on the money they receive. People don’t conduct themselves like this. They don’t. And they shouldn’t,” a passionate Avenatti said.
Daniels also said she was approached by a man in a Las Vegas parking lot while with her infant daughter and threatened regarding her silence on the Trump affair.
“It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy,” her lawyer said.
Avenatti is suing the president in California, asking that Daniels’ non-disclosure agreement to be declared invalid since Trump did not actually sign the agreement himself.
Daniels did not reveal whether she has turned over all images and messages she may possess that are connected with the affair to Trump, although they were teased by her lawyer in a tweet.