President Donald Trump attacked lawyer Michael Avenatti on Twitter Wednesday hours after Avenatti’s client Julie Swetnick came forward with an accusation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” Trump tweeted. “He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships ― a total low-life!” Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress currently suing Trump over a nondisclosure agreement over their alleged affair.
Avenatti shot back, calling Trump a “habitual liar and complete narcissist who also is a disgrace as a president and an embarrassment to our nation.”
Washington, D.C., resident Swetnick alleged in a sworn declaration that she was a “victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present” at a party in approximately 1982.
“This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone,” Kavanaugh said in a statement responding to the new allegation. “I don’t know who this is and this never happened.” He has denied all of the allegations against him.
The new claim comes less than a week after Deborah Ramirez told The New Yorker Kavanaugh exposed himself to her and thrusted his penis in her face at a party. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her down and groping her at a party in the early 1980s, was the first woman to allege the nominee had sexually assaulted her.
Other Republican lawmakers have come to Kavanaugh’s defense in the wake of Swetnick’s latest accusation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement, “If Republicans bail out on this good man because of the smears and character assassination perpetrated by Michael Avenatti, we deserve our fate.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told HuffPost that he has “great suspicions about people who suddenly at the last minute are trying to delay this or stop this, and I don’t think we should play that game.”
And Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said it seemed to him that Avenatti “wants to protect people who are involved in pornography and that he’s running for president.”
Blasey is set to give testimony on Thursday to the Senate Judiciary Committee about her alleged assault.