Lawyer: Avenatti said he'd represent porn star for a dollar

27.01.2022 - 01:23 / abcnews.go.com

Donald Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied it.Macias said he was with Avenatti one day when he mentioned that Daniels was “blowing up my phone” over the subject.“I might be interested in this,” he recalled Avenatti telling him.He said he believed that Daniels just wanted to alter her deal so she could speak publicly about her encounter with Trump and receive more money, but Avenatti “wanted to go big” with an appearance on CBS's “60 Minutes."“He told her: ‘I’ll charge you a dollar,'" Macias recalled.A prosecutor, Mathew Podolsky, asked Macias if Avenatti thanked him for introducing him to Daniels.

The lawyer said Avenatti gave him a Cartier watch in the summer of 2018. But by Labor Day weekend, Avenatti appeared deflated and melancholy at a Las Vegas convention for lawyers.“He seemed a little more agitated than he normally was and he seemed a little needy,” Macias said.“I said: ‘What happened to you?’” Macias recalled.Avenatti responded: “She's going crazy,” referring to Daniels, Macias said.He said Avenatti claimed the book publisher hadn't paid her as scheduled on her $800,000 advance, that Daniels was considering speaking publicly about her complaints and “she's going to blow this deal up.”Prosecutors have told jurors that Avenatti was pocketing payments destined for her, funneling some of the money into his law practice's payroll expenses and personal expenses.“He wanted me to represent her to sue the book publishing company,” Macias said.Then, days later, Avenatti showed up at his office saying he was “jammed up and needed help” because he was about to be evicted from his law office space and needed help meeting his payroll, he said.“I was shocked he needed money,” Macias said, noting that Avenatti was