Stormy Daniels, the adult film worker who sued President Donald Trump over their extramarital affair, has turned on the lawyer who represented her in statement released Wednesday.
"I learned about it on Twitter"
Daniels told the Daily Beast that Avenatti had not acted according to her requests - including a decision to open a crowdfunding account to pay for legal fees.
“For months I’ve asked Michael Avenatti to give me accounting information about the fund my supporters so generously donated to for my safety and legal defense," she alleged. "He has repeatedly ignored those requests.
"Days ago I demanded again, repeatedly, that he tell me how the money was being spent and how much was left," she added. "Instead of answering me, without my permission or even my knowledge Michael launched another crowdfunding campaign to raise money on my behalf."
"I learned about it on Twitter," she said.
Daniels had already said that she was considering dropping Avenatti as her lawyer after he was arrested based on allegations of domestic abuse. He has vehemently denied the allegations.
In her statement, she praised Avenatti for some of his actions, but said in others he had not shown her the respect a client deserves from their attorney.
"He has spoken on my behalf without my approval," she said. "He filed a defamation case against Donald Trump against my wishes. He repeatedly refused to tell me how my legal defense fund was being spent. Now he has launched a new crowdfunding campaign using my face and name without my permission and attributing words to me that I never wrote or said."
"This is a search for the truth.”
Daniels could have been referring to this tweet from Avenatti asking for funds to help her fight their lawsuit.
"In three weeks, we have a key hearing in Stormy’s case relating to our ability to force Trump to testify under oath about his role in the criminal conspiracy," Avenatti tweeted. "This is a search for the truth."
"Support Stormy’s courageous efforts," he added, with a link to a "CrowdJustice" donation site that is no longer functioning.
“I am and have always been Stormy’s biggest champion"
Avenatti responded to the allegations from Daniels in a statement Wednesday.
“I am and have always been Stormy’s biggest champion," he said. "I have personally sacrificed an enormous amount of money, time and energy toward assisting her because I believe in her. I have always been an open book with Stormy as to all aspects of her cases and she knows that. The retention agreement Stormy signed back in February provided that she would pay me $100.00 and that any and all other monies raised via a legal fund would go toward my legal fees and costs. Instead, the vast majority of the money raised has gone toward her security expenses and similar other expenses. The most recent campaign was simply a refresh of the prior campaign, designed to help defray some of Stormy’s expenses.”
Despite her disappointment, Daniels said she has not decided if she will keep him as her attorney yet.
Avenatti has expressed interest in running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 to challenge Trump's re-election.
Here's the Fox News report on the development:
