On Monday, Daily Caller reporter Peter Hasson tweeted out that Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, had threatened him and his co-workers with a defamation lawsuit for reporting on him. While Avenatti did not cite any specific articles, the email came hours after he and Joe Simonson reported on business troubles in Avenatti’s past business career.
Avenatti threatened to sue both the outlet and the reporters individually, “We will also recover significant damages against each of you that participated individually.”
Avenatti also started his email off by deeming it “off the record” (which means that a reporter cannot report the contents of the message or that he sent it). However, Avenatti unilaterally decided to this and Hassan did not agree to it (or have a chance to agree) and therefore did not abide by it.
Avenatti confirmed to Politico that the email was from him. Some noted that Avenatti was Trump-like in prospering from numerous media appearances while also threatening reporters with lawsuits. Avenatti did not respond to a question from TKNN about that criticism.