Michael Avenatti "I Applaud Nancy Pelosi for Waiting Until a Fair Trial with Articles of Impeachment"

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Michael Avenatti steps in the ring to share his opinions on Donald Trump’s impeachment here at TVT.

On December 18th, 2019, the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump which makes him the third President of the United States to face possible removal by the Senate. 

“Donald Trump’s saying he wasn’t actually impeached which is, you know, we’ve all seen this coming,” says Winn. “We’ve all kind of expected this, right Michael? But I wanted to get your thoughts initially on the tactics of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats with respect to the articles of impeachment and not exactly being receptive and cordial when it comes to handing over the articles of impeachment.”

“Well, first of all, this claim that he has not been impeached is ludicrous,” says Avenatti. “It’s absolutely absurd. I mean, he has been impeached, the House passed impeachment charges. The fact that they have not sent those charges yet to the United States Senate does not negate the fact that he has in fact been impeached. You know, this is no different than if a criminal defendant is charged in a case but the charges or the indictment has not yet been assigned to a court of law or to a judge for trial. It does not mean the individual has not been charged.”

 “As it relates to Nancy Pelosi’s decision and the Democratic leadership’s decision not to send the charges yet to the US Senate, you know, I applaud it,” continues Avenatti. “I’ve been advocating for that decision. Look, until it becomes clear that there’s actually going to be a real trial, as opposed to a rigged trial, and what I mean by that is a trial with witnesses, a trial with the presentation of evidence, a trial where people have not already pre announced their decision without even seeing or hearing all of the evidence. Until that happens, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats better stand strong and not send the charges to the US Senate. They need to play hardball.”

Avenatti feels that the Democrats are holding off on sending over the articles of impeachment because they know that there will not be a fair trial. Lev Parnas has stated that he is willing to turn over documents and testify but Adam Schiff has not jumped on the opportunity. Witness after witness needs to be turned over until there is enough of a case to turn it over to the Senate. 

Winn pressed Avenatti further, “On the flip side, can’t the Republicans ask anyone to testify if they want to as well?”

“Well, provided that it is deemed to be relevant, and ultimately, Chief Justice Roberts would preside over the trial in the Senate and he would make the determination as to whether it was relevant to the charges to have various people testify,” says Avenatti. 

Winn seamlessly switched things over to the Democratic debate in Los Angeles asking, “What did you make of the debate between the Democrats there and what do you think this means as far as Joe Biden being the frontrunner there on the Democratic side?”

“Yeah, well, you know, the one thing I’ll say is I think that Senator Klobuchar at one point said, ‘I didn’t come here to fight,’” says Avenatti. “Well, if you didn’t come here to fight, if you’re not on the debate stage ready to fight, then you’re sure as hell not prepared to beat Donald Trump or go up against Donald Trump. This whole idea that this election is not going to be a fight is ridiculous. As far as I’m concerned, if she doesn’t want to fight, if she doesn’t want to get down in the gutter and trade shots then she should get the hell out of the race because nobody is going to beat Donald Trump if they aren’t going to get down in the gutter and trade shots with the guy.”

Winn goes on to explain that in the midst of the impeachment process, Trump held a rally in the state of Michigan. Since Senator John Dingell’s passing, his wife has become the representative of Michigan and she has voted in support of the impeachment of Donald Trump. Trump used this moment, during his rally in Michigan to “disparage” the late Senator Dingell. This is a great example of what Trump does when he feels he has been “slighted.”

“Well, you know this guy is a petulant child,” says Avenatti. “He’s demonstrated that time and time again over the last three years. He’s also a coward. He’s your typical schoolyard bully who advertises himself as being tough, but when you really stand up to him, he’s a paper tiger. Look, you saw this with John McCain, you’ve seen this from time to time. I mean, to disparage a dead man, and especially to do it through his widow is disgraceful, it’s disgusting. To my friends on that, to my people on the right, if it was a liberal, quote on quote, someone on the left that did it, I’d say the exact same thing.”