Michael Avenatti ― the lawyer representing Stephanie Clifford, more widely known as Stormy Daniels ― said he “will run” for president in 2020 if there’s no other suitable challenger to President Donald Trump.
After tweeting that “only a street fighter has a chance at displacing the ‘King,’” Avenatti was asked when he would announce a 2020 run.
“IF (big) he seeks re-election, I will run, but only if I think that there is no other candidate in the race that has a REAL chance at beating him,” Avenatti replied. “We can’t relive 2016. I love this country, our values and our people too much to sit by while they are destroyed.”
Avenatti argued he could win in 2020, telling those who knocked his lack of experience to look to the president as an example of an outsider who succeeded in electoral politics.
“To those that claim that only a traditional politician with ‘experience’ can beat Trump, go back & look at the results from 2016,” Avenatti tweeted. “He beat all 15 of those candidates that he faced (crushed many).”
On “Real Time With Bill Maher” in late April, Avenatti dodged a question from the host about a future in politics, saying he was focused on another “small matter.” Avenatti is representing Daniels in her legal fight against Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen.
On July 1, Avenatti tweeted that he wasn’t interested in certain political jobs, denying he would run for Congress.