Michael Avenatti Endorses Joe Biden for President

After former Vice President Joe Biden announced his 2020 campaign for president in a video Thursday, troubled TV lawyer Michael Avenatti endorsed him and said, “He has my enthusiastic support.”

“I am extremely happy that @JoeBiden has decided to enter the race. He offers Dems the very best chance in 2020, especially in key states. He has the fight, intelligence and fortitude to beat Trump and begin to make America, America again. He has my enthusiastic support,” Avenatti stated on his private Twitter account. Screenshots of the message soon spread it to a wider audience.

Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted Avenatti on 36 counts of fraud, perjury, failure to pay taxes, embezzlement, and other financial crimes.

Last week, he was accused of embezzling $2.5 million from a negotiated payment Miami Heat player Hassan Whiteside thought he was making to his former girlfriend.

Avenatti received attention from several media outlets after he represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump in an attempt to void a non-disclosure agreement she had signed.

The lawyer’s star rose so quickly that he briefly flirted with a 2020 presidential run, finding a great deal of grassroots support from the political left, including CNN host Brian Stelter. However, he withdrew from the race last December, several months before prosecutors revealed their charges against him.

Last November, Daniels expressed concern over the way Avenatti treated her as a client.

“Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client. He has spoken on my behalf without my approval,” Daniels stated. “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.”

In March, Avenatti announced he had dropped Daniels as a client.

“We informed Stormy Daniels in writing that we were terminating our legal representation of her for various reasons that we cannot disclose publicly due to attorney-client privilege,” Avenatti said in a statement shared to Twitter.