Michael Avenatti is claiming he did not slow down the Michael Cohen investigation, despite a recent report saying he slowed prosecutor's efforts into the probe.
Avenatti took to Twitter on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the lawyer for adult actress Stormy Daniels has pumped the brakes on the investigation into President Donald Trump's personal lawyer.
"Any media report citing 'unnamed sources' (and not a single document) suggesting we are delaying the investigation into Mr. Cohen and DJT is completely false and without basis. We have already waived the privilege as to a host of docs and communications to ensure justice is done," Avenatti wrote on Twitter.
The Wall Street Journal report states that Avenatti has prolonged prosecutors into speaking with Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, about the $130,000 payment Cohen made to her weeks before the election in 2016 to keep quiet about the alleged affair she had with Trump.
Avenatti has not taken the steps to waive the attorney-client privilege so investigators can interview Daniels's former lawyer Keith Davidson, The Wall Street Journal reported. One unnamed source told The Wall Street Journal that Avenatti had sent Davidson a cease-and-desist letter in April and to not release Daniels's records. According to The Wall Street Journal, Avenatti had also attempted to stop Daniels's former manager, Gina Rodriguez, from handing over any communications to the prosecutors handling the case until he had reviewed them himself.
Avenatti's actions have frustrated prosecutors, but have yet to see any discrediting information that could stop the investigation. Avenatti told The Wall Street Journal he and Daniels have been cooperating with federal investigators.
"We have already started producing documents to the government so any suggestion we are not cooperating is meritless," Avenatti said.
The attorney's law firm was recently under fire after the Los Angeles Times reported that it was slapped with a $10 million judgment last week. Avenatti's firm was hit with the judgment in U.S. Bankruptcy Court after he had previously agreed to pay $2 million to a former colleague, Josh Frank. Frank had previously told the Los Angeles Times he was cheated out of the money when the two worked together at the firm in Newport Beach, California.
Avenatti previously told Newsweek that the law firm does not represent Daniels and had nothing to do with him personally.
"Nothing has been issued against me personally. Nothing. The law firm involved is not even the same law firm that represents Ms. Daniels," Avenatti had previously stated.
