Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Threatened Another Journalist

by Joe Simonson

Stormy Daniels’ infamous attorney Michael Avenatti apparently threatened another reporter and publication with a lawsuit, this time targeting Law and Crime for running a piece analyzing his appearance at a court hearing in April.

The news was disclosed Wednesday evening in a piece by Rachel Stockman describing Avenatti’s pattern of aggressively attacking reporters and outlets who scrutinize his professional conduct.

Stockman alleges that “after the publication of our April 26 article that Avenatti deemed ‘unfair’  and ‘complete bullshit,’ Avenatti threatened to sue our reporter, Colin Kalmbacher, personally and then our publication — and then whoever ‘edited’ the article as well.”

Beyond his legal threat, Stockman said that Avenatti also threatened to badmouth the reporter responsible for the piece during his upcoming appearance on “The View.”

According to Stockman, Avenatti has “threatened to ‘cut off’ certain networks and print publications for coverage that was unfavorable to him personally.”

Earlier Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter’s Eriq Gardner accused Avenatti of calling him an “asshole” and of demanding to speak to his editor after the site ran an unflattering story on the lawyer’s conduct.

Avenatti threatened to sue The Daily Caller News Foundation Monday and reporters Peter Hasson and Joe Simonson after an article ran raising questions about Avenatti’s past businesses dealings.

“Let me be clear. If you and your colleagues do not stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements, I will have no choice but to sue each of you and your publication for defamation,” he said in his email to TheDCNF.

Avenatti appeared on “CNN Tonight” with Don Lemon on Tuesday. During the interview, Lemon asked Avenatti about his threat to TheDCNF but did not press him to substantiate his claims that the news outlet had printed anything defamatory.

That same night, Lemon’s boyfriend, Tim Malone, messaged Simonson through Twitter direct message and agreed that Lemon could have been tougher in his questioning.

Malone also implied that Lemon and Avenatti are friends and that viewers should not expect hard questions.

“Honestly, I think it’s all a game, everyone is profiting, and doing what rates for their audience,” Malone told TheDCNF.

TheDCNF President Neil Patel responded to Avenatti’s threats Tuesday, saying that the publication is “confident that Peter and Joe did an excellent job of reporting on some of your previous business interactions, as well as allegations and actions brought against you by past associates.”

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