Michael Avenatti, the outspoken attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with now-President Donald Trump a decade ago, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of domestic violence.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the arrest, first reported by TMZ, in a Twitter post.
“We can confirm that today LAPD detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence. This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available,” according to the department.
TMZ reported that Avenatti was involved in an alleged domestic violence incident with his estranged wife on Tuesday and was arrested Wednesday in Century City following an apparent second confrontation.
According to TMZ, the woman was spotted outside a Century City apartment building Wednesday, screaming at someone on her cell phone. Avenatti showed up about five minutes later, chasing the woman and screaming expletives, yelling, “She hit me first,” TMZ reported. Sources told the website the woman’s face was “swollen and bruised.”
Avenatti and his wife were married in 2011, but he filed for divorce in 2017, according to TMZ.
Avenatti, believed to be an aspiring politician, has risen to fame for his representation of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She contends she had an affair with Trump in 2006, and she is now suing Trump in federal court in Los Angeles, seeking to negate a non-disclosure agreement she signed just before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has denied the affair.