Michael Avenatti expressed his support for former President Donald Trump’s First Amendment rights in a post on the currently incarcerated lawyer’s X account on Tuesday.
“We cannot be hypocrites when it comes to the 1st Amendment,” the disgraced attorney wrote.
“It’s outrageous that (Michael) Cohen and (Stormy) Daniels can do countless TV interviews, post on social media, and make money from fake documentaries – all while talking shit about Trump – but it’s gagged and threatened with jail if he answers,” Avenatti added.
Avenatti was referring to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s multiple orders against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, limiting his ability to verbally attack witnesses and family members of those involved in the murder case. District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money against the former president.
Avenatti, who once represented the porn star at the center of the case and was a fixture on cable news programs, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2022 after being convicted of defrauding numerous former clients of several million dollars and other financial means. crimes.
The 53-year-old lawyer was previously sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding Daniels out of a book deal and trying to extort $25 million from shoe maker Nike.
Avenatti is currently incarcerated at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution in San Pedro, California, where inmates do not have access to the Internet but can use letters, phone calls and a “restricted version of email” to transmit messages to the outside world. world, according to the facility’s inmate orientation manual.
Social media users seemed more perplexed by where Avenatti was when the tweet was posted rather than by the content of his argument.
“While we have you, would you recommend this place to Donald?” » George Conway, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, tweeted, including screenshots of Avenatti’s Federal Bureau of Prisons profile.
“Wait… You’re allowed to tweet while you’re behind bars? » posted an incredulous user X, echoing the thoughts of many people.
“Look who wants a pardon,” tweeted Eric Columbus, a former Justice Department official and counsel to the Jan. 6 House Select Committee.
This is the first position awarded to the disgraced lawyer since last December.
Avenatti’s release date is Aug. 20, 2035, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
New York Post
