Mr. Avenatti drew national attention when he began representing Ms. Daniels in early 2018, filing lawsuits against President Trump and Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer. He sought to release Ms. Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, from a hush agreement she had signed before the 2016 election. As part of that deal, she accepted $130,000 and agreed to keep quiet about a sexual relationship she said she had had with Mr. Trump in 2006. Both of the lawsuits Mr. Avenatti filed on behalf of Ms. Daniels were dismissed, and in one case she was ordered to pay Mr. Trump $293,000 in legal fees. Mr. Avenatti, who spent much of 2018 crusading against Mr. Trump on cable news shows and teasing a presidential run of his own, has called the cases against him politically motivated.

Source: New York Times May 22, 2019 20:06 UTC