'I think the party has yearned for a fighter': Michael Avenatti confirms he may run as a Democrat against Trump in 2020
- Michael Avenatti, the lawyer known to needle President Donald Trump on social media and on TV, says he might run against Trump as a Democrat in the 2020 presidential election.
- Avenatti first gave that information to the Des Moines Register newspaper on Thursday. He was in the Iowa state capital with several other presidential hopefuls getting a head start on the next race to the White House.
- "I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my homework," Avenatti told the Des Moines Register.
- Avenatti has never held public office before, and has no known experience in politics. He made clear he's only exploring a potential 2020 run, but said he believes Democrats "have yearned for a fighter," and said he believes he fits the bill.
Michael Avenatti, the high-profile lawyer to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, and a frequent thorn in President Donald Trump's side, wants you to know that he's thinking about a career change.
"I'm exploring a run for the presidency of the United States," Avenatti told the Des Moines Register newspaper on Thursday, "and I wanted to come to Iowa and listen to people and learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my homework."
Avenatti is not new to the national spotlight. In recent months, he made his trade by taking up Daniels' cause. The actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is Avenatti's most high-profile client. She's suing Trump over a $130,000 nondisclosure agreement she signed to keep quiet about an affair she said she had with Trump in 2006.
As part of the proceedings in that case, and multiple subplots involving Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen and others, Avenatti has become a mainstay on cable news and a frequent agitator of Trump and everyone in the president's orbit on social media.
But Avenatti has never held public office before, and has no known experience in politics. While he is entertaining Democratic Party luminaries and other hopefuls in Iowa - the state where the presidential nomination contest begins - he told the Des Moines Register he believes that, above anything else, what the party needs in 2020 is a "fighter."
"I think the party has yearned for a fighter - a fighter for good, if you will - for a significant period of time," Avenatti said.
"And for many, I'm probably seen as that individual."