After arrest, lawyer denies domestic violence charge

LOS ANGELES — Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, has denied allegations of domestic violence after his arrest near his ritzy Los Angeles skyscraper apartment.

“I have never struck a woman, I never will strike a woman,” Avenatti told reporters Wednesday after being booked and posting $50,000 bail.

Avenatti said he has been an advocate for women’s rights his entire career and is confident that he will be exonerated.

Police didn’t immediately disclose details about the arrest incident but Officer Tony Im, an LAPD spokesman, said the victim has visible injuries.

Avenatti became famous representing Daniels, the porn actress who alleges she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and has sued to invalidate the confidentiality agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election that prevents her discussing it. She also sued Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, alleging defamation.

Avenatti, who has said he’s mulling a 2020 presidential run, pursued the president and those close to him relentlessly for months, taunting Trump in interviews and baiting him and his lawyers in tweets.

But he has been facing growing legal and financial challenges in recent months.

He was struck with a personal judgment of $4.85 million last month for his failure to pay a debt to a former colleague at his longtime Newport Beach firm, Eagan Avenatti.

The same day, the firm’s landlord, Irvine Co., won a court order evicting him and his staff from their offices because Eagan Avenatti skipped the past four months of rent.

The Vermont Democratic Party canceled events planned for Friday and Saturday, where Avenatti was scheduled to speak, and is refunding ticket sales.

Avenatti’s arrest marked the second time this month that one of Trump’s loudest public foils found themselves in handcuffs. Alec Baldwin, who has repeatedly performed a less than flattering impersonation of Trump on “Saturday Night Live” since the 2016 election, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault in New York City on Nov. 2 after he allegedly punched a man following a parking dispute, police have said.