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Stormy Daniels’s Lawyer, Michael Avenatti, Is Arrested on Suspicion of Domestic Violence in Los Angeles Michael Avenatti Arrested on Suspicion of Domestic Violence in Los Angeles
(35 minutes later)
This is a developing story and will be updated shortly. Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who rose to fame representing the pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford and positioned himself as a crusading critic of President Trump and fierce advocate of women’s rights, was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of domestic violence, a spokesman for the city’s Police Department said.
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who rose to fame representing the pornographic film actress Stephanie Clifford and positioned himself as a crusading critic of President Trump and fierce advocate of women’s rights, was taken into police custody in Los Angeles on Wednesday on suspicion of domestic violence, a spokesman for the city’s Police Department said. The spokesman for the Los Angeles police, Josh Rubenstein, said Mr. Avenatti’s arrest had “stemmed from an incident on the Westside” of the city. Another department spokesman said that the episode happened sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, and noted that a police report was subsequently taken.
No other details were immediately available. Mr. Avenatti was arrested just after 2 p.m. Wednesday and booked into jail about two hours later, the spokesman said. As of about 5 p.m. local time, Mr. Avenatti was being held in jail with bail set at $50,000.
Calls to Mr. Avenatti were not immediately returned.
Mr. Avenatti, who has toyed with a run for president, rose to prominence in March, when he filed suit on behalf of Ms. Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she had struck with the president relating to an alleged sexual relationship. President Trump has called Mr. Avenatti a “third-rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations.”
Mr. Avenatti’s Twitter followers have climbed to several hundred thousand, and he has used that platform to broadcast his voice and challenge politicians and news personalities to debates extending from sexual misconduct to immigration policy.
Based in Newport Beach, Calif., Mr. Avenatti, 47, took up residence in a New York City hotel starting last spring, capitalizing on his new fame and becoming a fixture on the cable news circuit.
Mr. Avenatti has filed three suits against the president and his former personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, this year. But he has also injected himself into matters beyond Ms. Clifford’s case against the president.
In September, after multiple women had made public accusations of sexual misconduct by Brett M. Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, Mr. Avenatti announced on Twitter that he had taken on the case of yet another accuser whom he wanted heard. (That woman’s account was not among those that informed the F.B.I.’s review of the justice’s background.)
The finances of Mr. Avenatti’s firm, Eagan Avenatti, have meanwhile come under scrutiny, with a judge putting it in a temporary form of bankruptcy this year.
On Wednesday, upcoming appearances by Mr. Avenatti were called off, including two in Vermont sponsored by the state’s Democratic Party. Tickets ranging from $50 to $100 for town-hall-style talks by Mr. Avenatti that were due to take place this weekend will be refunded. “The events were canceled immediately upon hearing the news,” said R. Christopher Di Mezzo, communications director for the Vermont Democratic Party.