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Avenatti arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse

By Allen Cone
Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film actress Stormy Daniels who is suing President Donald Trump, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, the Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday. File Photo by Louis Lanzano/UPI
Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film actress Stormy Daniels who is suing President Donald Trump, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, the Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday. File Photo by Louis Lanzano/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Police arrested Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels in legal action against President Donald Trump, on suspicion of felony domestic violence, the Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday.

The LAPD confirmed the arrest after TMZ reported Avenatti, a frequent critic of the president during interviews on cable news shows, was in custody after an incident at his apartment in the Century City area of Los Angeles.

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"We can confirm that today LAPD detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence," the LAPD posted on Twitter. This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available.

Avenatti, 47, was released on $50,000 bail.

"I wish to thank the hard working men and woman of the LAPD for their professionalism they were only doing their jobs in light of the completely bogus allegations against me," Avenatti said in a statement provided to the Hollywood Reporter by his law firm. "I have never been physically abusive in my life nor was I last night. Any accusations to the contrary are fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation. I look forward to being fully exonerated."

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TMZ originally reported his estranged wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, was involved in an incident Tuesday but corrected it to say it was different woman.

Storie-Avenatti's attorneys said she "was not subject to any such incident." Avenatti and his wife filed for divorce in 2017.

"Further, she was not at Mr. Avenatti's apartment on the date that this alleged incident occurred. My client states that there has never been domestic violence in her relationship with Michael and that she has never known Michael to be physically violent toward anyone. My client requests that the media respect her privacy and that of the parties' young son," her attorney said.

Avenatti represents Daniels -- an adult film star identified as Stephanie Clifford in court documents -- in a lawsuit in which she said attorney Michael Cohen paid her to keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump in 2006.

Avenatti also represented Julie Swetnick, who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct decades ago. Senate judiciary committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Avenatti and Swetnick, to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation, saying the two made false statements to Congress.

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