Avenatti calls Trump a ‘victim of the system’ in interview from prison
Former attorney Michael Avenatti ripped into the hush money case against former President Trump, arguing it was politically motivated to prevent the former president from taking back the Oval Office in November.
"I certainly see [Trump] as a victim of the system," he said in a phone interview with Fox News Digital while in prison. "And that's something that I never thought I would say. So if Michael Avenatti is coming to his defense, and I was one of his staunchest opponents for a very significant period of time, that should tell people something."
Trump's hush money trial kicked off last week in Manhattan, where he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records connected to a payment his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
Avenatti, who once served as Daniels's attorney, is currently incarcerated for stealing book proceeds from the actress, and for defrauding other clients out of millions of dollars and obstructing the IRS.
Last month, an appeals court upheld Avenatti's 2022 conviction, sentencing him to four years in prison and requiring him to pay $148,000 in restitution and forfeit the roughly $297,000 that prosecutors say he stole from Daniels.
Avenatti, who was once a staunch critic of Trump, said the four separate criminal cases against the former president are "absolute overkill" as he pursues reelection, Fox News Digital reported.
"You've got a group of individuals in the United States who have decided that they know better as to who should be the next president, and they've decided that they don't want to leave it to 'the little guy,'" he said. "So they're going to take matters into their own hands to prevent those people from being heard, and I am deeply disturbed and disgusted by it."
Trump is facing a total of 91 criminal counts across four separate jurisdictions.
Avenatti said the question of Trump's presidency should be "settled at the ballot box" and argued the prosecutors involved in the four cases had personal motivations to gain prominence.
"If the defendant was anybody other than Donald Trump, this stale case would not be being brought right now," he said. "He has definitely been targeted … There is no question that these prosecutors are trying to make a name for themselves."
He told Fox News Digital he has been in contact with Trump's legal defense team about potentially testifying in the hush money trial and maintained he would tell the truth if called to the stand.