Dershowitz Escalates War of Words with Porn Star Defender Avenatti

Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz escalated his war of words with Michael Avenatti Tuesday by insisting the porn star lawyer isn’t helping “the legal profession” or “himself” by injecting himself into the Kavanaugh Supreme Court controversy.

“I don’t think [Avenatti] helps the legal profession. I don’t think he helps himself,” Dershowitz (pictured above right) said during a “Fox & Friends” interview. “He may help himself in the sense of getting more clients, but he has acted less than completely responsibly — not only in this instance, but in other instances as well.”

Avenatti (above left), best known for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, is also reportedly considering a run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Avenatti suddenly became part of the debate about Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh Sunday night by claiming to have a client who will accuse the nominee of organizing, during his adolescence, a “gang-rape” ring against women in the 1980s.

“He has acted less than completely responsibly — not only in this instance but in other instances as well.”

“I represent a woman with credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. We will be demanding the opportunity to present testimony to the committee and will likewise be demanding that Judge and others be subpoenaed to testify. The nomination must be withdrawn,” Avenatti tweeted Sunday. Judge is a long-time friend and former high school classmate of Kavanaugh.

“Warning: My client re Kavanaugh has previously done work within the State Dept, U.S. Mint, & DOJ. She has been granted multiple security clearances in the past including Public Trust & Secret. The GOP and others better be very careful in trying to suggest that she is not credible,” Avenatti added Monday on Twitter.

But Avenatti says he might wait until Wednesday night — the day before Kavanaugh and first public sexual assault accuser Christine Blasey Ford are set to testify before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary — to reveal his client.

Avenatti’s Kavanaugh media chasing earned varying degrees of mockery and frustration from Republicans and Democrats alike. The Daily Beast published an article Monday called “Democrats to Michael Avenatti: You’re Not Helping in the Kavanaugh Fight.”

“Mr. Avenatti has a tendency to sensationalize and make his various crusades more about himself than about getting at the truth,” a senior Senate Democratic aide told The Daily Beast. “This moment calls for the exact opposite.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) insisted in the same report, “If Michael Avenatti has any evidence, he should come forward promptly. If he has a client who has relevant information, I welcome hearing from him.”

“If there are additional allegations to come forward, this would absolutely be the time because I don’t see us pursuing this matter much more than the next week or two at most,” Coons said.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham said Monday on “The Ingraham Angle” that “when Avenatti comes on the scene, to me it’s a huge negative for the Democrats. I mean, it becomes another iteration of the Trump resistance. It’s all about him. He’s talking about running for president in 2020. The clown show continues.”

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino told Ingraham, “if you were serious — unlike Avenatti, who’s a clown, actually he’s an embarrassment to clowns, like clowns don’t want to be associated with Avenatti — and he was serious about getting to the bottom of these charges, he would put the information out there now, so credible people could do a credible investigation.”

Even Chris Hahn, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), told Ingraham, “I don’t take these seriously till I actually see somebody stand up and say this accusation actually happened. But I don’t just want to take accusations out of nowhere and say, ‘Let’s stop the presses.'”

Avenatti took issue with Dershowitz’s criticism, in particular, when he responded Tuesday on Twitter.

Related: Avenatti Warns Trump and Kavanaugh: Be ‘Very, Very Careful’ About Next Moves

“.@AlanDersh What happened to you? You used to be revered and respected. You are now seen as nothing more than a Trump sycophant and a hack for the GOP & Fox News. Anytime they need someone to do their bidding, they trot you out. Those mar-a-lago invites & cookies must be amazing,” Avenatti wrote.

Tuesday was not the first tussle between Dershowitz and Avenatti. The two argued in a particularly tense exchange in late July on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°” over whether Avenatti should have approached former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen in a restaurant without first receiving Cohen’s own lawyer’s consent. Dershowitz accused Avenatti of violating basic legal ethics.

“Alan, I feel sorry for the students you taught legal ethics to, by the way, because you didn’t teach the truth,” Avenatti said.

Dershowitz replied, “Well they’ve become justices of the Supreme Court, judges, some of the most important people in America. If you had been in my class you would not have had the conversation with Michael Cohen.”