In whiplash twist, Michael Avenatti considers testifying for Trump, calls trial ‘travesty’

Once one of Donald Trump’s fiercest critics, convicted attorney Michael Avenatti has been discussing possibly testifying on behalf of the former president in his hush money trial after he unleashed a tirade of criticism against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

In X posts from his Los Angeles federal prison cell and in news media interviews, Avenatti has questioned the legitimacy of Bragg’s prosecution against Trump, even suggesting it was an interference in the 2024 election.

“There’s no question it is politically motivated because they’re concerned that he (Trump) may be re-elected,” Avenatti told The New York Post in an interview published this weekend.

"If the defendant was anyone other than Donald Trump, this case would not have been brought at this time, and for the government to attempt to bring this case and convict him in an effort to prevent tens of millions of people from voting for him," he added. "I think it’s just flat-out wrong and atrocious."

He added: “I think there’s a significant chance that this is going to all backfire and is going to propel him to the White House.”

Avenatti confirmed to the newspaper that he has had discussions with Trump’s defense team about possibly testifying at the Bragg trial, where opening arguments are set to begin Monday.

“The defense has contacted me," he said. "I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defense for the better part of year."

A source close to the situation confirmed to Just the News on Saturday that Avenatti has had discussions with Trump’s legal team, though nothing had been settled.  

Avenatti is serving a prison sentence in Los Angeles for fraud, extortion and other crimes. For most of Trump’s first term, he was a relentless critic of the 45th president even suggesting he was his “most dangerous enemy.”

Avenatti, as the attorney for adult-film star Stormy Daniels, appeared on at least 108 interviews on cable news outlets CNN and MSNBC from March 7 to May 10 of 2018, according to an analysis by the conservative Washington Free Beacon. But in recent weeks, starting on social media and continuing in news interviews, the disgraced lawyer has sounded a marked shift in tone.

On MSNBC last week, Avenatti lamented that the trial could “potentially deprive tens of millions of Americans of their choice for the presidency of the United States ... based on a case of this nature.”

On the X social platform, he pleaded with fellow liberals to see the trial as a mistake.

“To my friends on the left who insist they want to ‘preserve Democracy’ and ‘Justice,’ you should be equally outraged by this,” he wrote. “Constitutional protections either exist for all (including Trump) or they don't exist for any. What is happening in the hush money case is a travesty.”

Avenatti also raised concerns that his former client, Stormy Daniels, and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen had been allowed to talk in the news media, relentlessly criticizing Trump in recent weeks, while Trump faced a partial gag order from the judge.

“The fix is in,” he wrote on X. “Never before has there been a high-profile criminal case in America where a prosecutor (Bragg) permitted, and likely encouraged, two critical witnesses (Cohen & Daniels) to use the media in the days leading up to trial to trash a gagged defendant (Trump) and violate his right to a fair trial.”