Things got heated up again Friday afternoon in what has become an increasingly public verbal war between Michael Cohen, an attorney for Donald Trump and his affiliated organizations, and Michael Avenatti, an attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels. Daniels has claimed she and Trump had an affair; she also claims Trump wanted her to clam up and paid her $130,000 to do so. Cohen says he, acting as an attorney for a company, sought to get her to keep her story quiet and paid her out of his own pocket to do so.
Avenatti has been running here, there, and everywhere these last few days giving information to the press, including emails which were sent by Cohen from his official Trump Organization email account, NBC News and ABC News have reported. In a statement to NBC News about the emails from the Trump account, Avenatti said:
“I think this document seriously calls into question the prior representation of Mr. Cohen and the White House relating to the source of the monies paid to Ms. Clifford in an effort to silence her . . . we smell smoke.”
In a statement to ABC News, Cohen went further than he has before in explaining where the money originated:
“The funds were taken from my home equity line and transferred internally to my LLC account in the same bank.”
Cohen also accused Avenatti of misinterpreting or misunderstanding the facts and of misleading the press:
“He should either evacuate the room he’s standing in or immediately seek the attention of an ENT doctor.”
With reference to Avenatti claiming the Trump Organization emails somehow proved the money may have come from a Trump-affiliated account, Cohen disagreed and accused Avenatti of showboating:
“Mr. Avenatti has clearly allowed his 15 minutes of fame to affect his ludicrous conclusions.”
That’s harsh. Avenatti Tweeted back:
So let me get this straight – Cohen now claims he borrowed $130k on his house and pays interest on it in order to give that same $130k (on behalf of a Billionaire) to a woman who according to him was lying.https://t.co/bq7AwYXCGk via @YouTube https://t.co/UqPqkxWFP5
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 9, 2018
[Image via Mark Wilson/Getty Images.]
[Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated.]
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