Breaking News Emails
Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Nov. 14, 2018 / 11:23 PM GMT / Updated 12:20 AM GMT
By Andrew Blankstein and Dartunorro Clark
LOS ANGELES — Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels and one of President Donald Trump’s chief antagonists, has been arrested on suspicion of felony domestic abuse, multiple senior law enforcement officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
Officers in West Los Angeles responded to an incident involving Avenatti, and he was detained in the process of taking an incident report, the sources said. He was expected to be booked into a local jail later Wednesday evening.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a tweet later on Wednesday , “We can confirm that today LAPD Detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence.”
The department said it was “an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available.”
TMZ and BuzzFeed News had first reported that Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. Early reports indicated that the incident involved with Avenatti’s estranged wife, Lisa Storie-Avenatti, but her lawyer released a statement to NBC News denying those accounts.
“Ms. Storie-Avenatti was not subject to any such incident on Tuesday night,” the statement said. “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.”
Avenatti became a well-known fixture on cable news for representing Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She claims she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, which he has denied, and was paid hush money to keep silent.
Avenatti’s law firm didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Vermont Democratic Party released a statement late Wednesday announcing it would be cancelling events it planned to host over the weekend with Avenatti as speaker.
“It has been widely reported by the Washington Post and other outlets that Michael Avenatti has been arrested in Los Angeles, California on charges of suspected felony domestic violence,” the statement said. “The Vermont Democratic Party has cancelled Mr. Avenatti’s forthcoming scheduled appearances in Vermont, and will be refunding all ticket sales.”
Blankstein reported from Los Angeles, Clark reported from New York.
