Michael Avenatti on who Democrats should run in 2020: 'It better be a white male'

Michael Avenatti has some very specific ideas about who Democrats should run in 2020. It should be him, he suggested, or someone else who looks quite a bit like him.

The white, male lawyer for Stormy Daniels has recently gained unusual prominence in the Democratic Party — a party that's currently running record numbers of women and people of color for office. But when it comes to who the party should nominate for 2020's presidential election, "I think it better be a white male," Avenatti told Time in an interview published Thursday.

Former President Barack Obama's eight years in office notwithstanding, Avenatti told Time that "when you have a white male making the arguments, they carry more weight." Still, he's quick to backtrack. "Should they carry more weight? Absolutely not," he said. "But do they? Yes."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As a personal example, Avenatti went on to cite how he's been "successful representing Daniels and immigrant mothers," Time writes. One can only assume Avenatti is referring to Daniels' defamation lawsuit against President Trump, which a judge recently dismissed, ordering Daniels to pay Trump's legal fees. Avenatti has also had a rough time defending himself against more personal lawsuits, recently being ordered to pay an ex-colleague $4.85 million.

But that doesn't seem to bother Avenatti. He'll just continue to down about 15 shots of espresso each day and joke that the pair of high heels in his hotel room belong to Ivanka Trump, as Time details. Read more at Time.