Federal inmate and disbarred lawyer Michael Avenatti trashed former President Donald Trump's ongoing hush money criminal trial.
Avenatti, who previously served as an attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, has been making the media rounds from a federal prison on Terminal Island in Southern California and recently called into an episode of Hannity to criticize the "targeted" attack on the former president.
Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Avenatti why he is changing his tune about Trump years after representing Daniels.
“The case is grossly unfair,” Avenatti told Hannity. “And that’s gonna come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I strongly believe that. What is happening right now to President Trump — and let me be clear, I disagree with President Trump on 95% of the issues at a minimum. But [there is] one thing he and I agree on, and that is that the politicization of these cases, and this case in particular is gross, it’s uncalled for, and it’s flat-out wrong. This is an effort to the private millions of Americans of their choice for president."
He went on to claim that “serial killers [are] prosecuted at the same time in different cases. The timing is wrong. The case is wrong. And he’s not receiving due process.”
“Is it your experience that contributed to this?” Hannity asked Avenatti. “Or is this the entire totality of what happened with you and your former client, the totality of what happened with Michael Cohen, the totality of what happened in your own life? Explain— it’s such a different Michael Avenatti to me. Can you explain that?”
The disgraced former lawyer answered, “Well, I think it’s all of what you mentioned. I’ve learned a lot over the last five to six years, Sean. I’ve been a product of the system if you will."
"I’ve been ground through the system fighting three cases at one time," he continued. "I’ve learned a lot about the media. I’ve learned a lot about what it’s like when the government comes for you, when you’re targeted.”
Avenatti claimed he was deprived of due process and told the Fox News host, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks."
“I’ve certainly grown a lot and learned a lot over the last five years,” he added. “And that’s why I’m saying what I’m saying now, and I firmly believe it.”
The former lawyer is currently serving 19 years on convictions for extortion, fraud, obstruction, and identity theft. Some of those charges stem from his theft of proceeds from a book by Daniels.
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“Avenatti’s not gonna be a witness in this case,” former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman told Ari Melber after the MSNBC host finished airing his interview with Avenatti. “He’s got nothing, zero, to do with it. He has no knowledge as to any of the allegations in this complaint.”
