The lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her ongoing legal dispute with President Donald Trump has been arrested over claims of domestic violence.
A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) spokesperson said the alleged victim had visible injuries. No further details were provided about the alleged victim or their relationship to Avenatti.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
The high-profile lawyer has dimissed the allegation as “completely bogus”.
“I wish to thank the hard working men and woman of the LAPD for their professionalism and their work today. They had no option in light of the allegations,” Avenatti continued in a statement released by his law firm. “I am looking forward to a full investigation, at which point I am confident that I will be fully exonerated.”
The claim is “fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation”, added Avenatti, who recently said he was contemplating a 2020 presidential run.
The 47-year-old has become a household name as the lawyer of porn actress and director Stormy Daniels, who alleges that she was paid $130,000 (£100,000) in hush money following a brief affair with Trump - claims the president strongly denies.
Avenatti has “pursued the president and those close to him relentlessly for months, taunting Trump in interviews and baiting him and his lawyers in tweets”, says The Guardian.
His past clients have also included Julie Swetnick, one of the women who accused Brett Kavanaugh of aggressive sexual behaviour prior to his confirmation to the US Supreme Court.
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warmingUnder the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
September 14 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Texas’s abortion law: the Republicans get their way, at lastSpeed Read SB8 authorises private citizens to sue anyone who performs, ‘aids or abets’ an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy
-
Changing legal gender: what’s new and how does it work?Speed Read Cost of a gender recognition certificate application is reduced from £140 to £5
-
America’s bloodiest state votes to ban the death penaltySpeed Read Virginia has executed more than 1,300 people in its 400-year history
-
FBI accused of ‘fake’ background check on Donald Trump Supreme Court nomineeSpeed Read Democratic senator calls for ‘proper oversight’ over Brett Kavanaugh investigation into sexual assault claims
-
Family of Malcolm X claims letter proves FBI and NYPD involved in his murderSpeed Read Daughters of assassinated civil rights leader demand reopening of investigation
-
Meghan Markle granted nine-month delay in Mail on Sunday privacy caseSpeed Read Duchess of Sussex had applied for summary judgement in battle over letters sent to her estranged father
-
Meghan Markle to pay £67,000 after losing first round of legal battle against Mail
Speed Read Duchess of Sussex is suing the newspaper’s publisher for printing parts of private letter to her father
-
MI6 agents tried to stop judge seeing secret documents in ‘licence to kill’ caseSpeed Read Intelligence agency was forced to apologise for ‘any misunderstanding’, court documents show
