Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels were hyped by media as Trump’s downfall before legal fallout

Attorney Michael Avenatti and adult film star Stormy Daniels were once heralded as formidable adversaries of Donald Trump, but the ugly collapse of their partnership came to a close last week as Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing a fortune from his client.

Daniels went public with allegations she received over $100,000 leading up to the 2016 election as a means to keep her silent about an alleged affair with then-presidential candidate Trump; he has denied the affair. Avenatti soon after was hired by Daniels.

The two quickly rose to stardom, with Avenatti appearing hundreds of times on major cable news networks, and pundits gushed over Daniels’ story and Avenatti’s combative legal strategy to prove his client’s claims. A number of figures in the liberal media believed that the pairing could sink Trump’s presidency.

“Real Time” host Bill Maher was perhaps the most transparent about the sudden media fixation on the pair during an April 2018 interview with Avenatti.

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“Let’s be honest, the whole reason thar we’re in love with you and Stormy is because we think you guys are the tip of the spear that’s going to take down Donald Trump,” Maher told Avenatti in 2018. 

Just seconds earlier, Maher introduced Avenatti as “Trump’s worst nightmare.” Maher was far from the only one to express enthusiasm at the possibility of them taking down the president.

ABC’s “The View” was responsible for a large chunk of the fulsome behavior. 

“Micheal Avenatti’s a genius,” co-host Sunny Hostin said at one point. “He just got the president to weigh in on Stormy Daniels.”

Avenatti appeared on the show himself in 2018. During the segment, Joy Behar said Trump was afraid of him, while Ana Navarro compared Daniels’ lawyer to the Holy Spirit. 

A number of other show hosts weighed in on Trump and how Daniels and Avenatti could hurt or destroy his presidency. 

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Comedian Stephen Colbert called Avenatti an “existential threat” to the Trump presidency. Meanwhile, Lawrence O’Donnell claimed that Avenatti had created “sheer panic” in the “very fragile mind” of Trump after Daniels’ lawyer tweeted out a photo of a DVD prior to an appearance on “60 Minutes.” He claimed at the time the DVD was a “warning shot” that contained evidence of the alleged affair. The DVD was never released to the public. 

Daniels herself also claimed she had evidence that could bring down Trump, but that too never led to any significant bombshells. 

“Is there something you know now which we will know soon, that could bring down this presidency?” Twan Huys asked in a 2018 interview with Daniels. 

“Umm, I say that we have a 50/50 – yes there’s stuff that I know, and I would say that it’s a 50/50 shot,” Daniels replied.

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At one point, Daniels and Avenatti were even given the glamour treatment, dressed and photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue.

The duo’s profile by Amy Chozick, which went alongside the photographs, gushed over the pair, noting at one point that Daniels was an engaging subject because she was blunt and immune from humiliation. Chozick appeared in 2018 on CNN, where she was given ample room to promote the “high fashion bible” issue in which Daniels and Avenatti appeared. 

Then-CNN host Brooke Baldwin praised the piece, with her and Chozick describing Daniels as a “working mom” and “the perfect adversary” against Trump. The two also called Daniels a “beacon of The Resistance” who was fighting back despite the “psychological and personal toll” the affair had taken on her. 

On the heels of their publicity tour, Avenatti assisted Daniels in inking a nearly one-million dollar book deal, but he was later convicted of stealing nearly $300,000 of the deal’s advance.

Prosecutor argued that Avenatti fabricated a letter from Daniels that redirected payments from the publisher of the book to an account controlled by Avenatti. At the trial, Avenatti represented himself after firing his legal team. The disgraced lawyer attempted to dampen Daniels’ credibility by attacking her belief in the paranormal and suggesting he had completed work, that was never in their contract, that entitled him to the book advance. The jury did not buy it. 

Avenatti’s June conviction was not his first. He is also serving a 30-month sentence for attempting to extort Nike out of $25 million by threatening the release of damaging information about the sportswear company. Eighteen months out of his new sentence will be served concurrently with the extortion conviction,  

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He has also been accused of embezzling $10 million in settlement funds from a number of clients, as well as tax fraud and bankruptcy fraud, adding to Avenatti’s laundry list of recent legal woes.