Donald Trump Just Took Michael Avenatti's Bait on Twitter and Avenatti Is Dragging Him All the Way Down

President Donald Trump lashed out at attorney Michael Avenatti shortly after Avenatti revealed the identity of his client, Julie Swetnick, who is now the third woman to come forward with sexual assault claims against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The president, who has in the last few days sought to undermine accusations brought to national attention by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, called Avenatti "a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations" against him and "is just looking for attention."

Avenatti soon responded, and he took particular umbrage at the president's claim that he has leveled false accusations.

"Like those crimes your fixer Cohen pled to?" Avenatti asked, referencing former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, who last month pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts––five charges of felony tax evasion, two counts of campaign finance violations, and one count of bank fraud––in a case which vindicated Avenatti's client, the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whom for so many months the president and Cohen had maligned. Cohen said that he made the payments at Trump’s behest to buy Daniels's silence and influence the 2016 presidential election.

It turns out many others agree with Avenatti's assessment, and they also questioned the president's judgment.

Others accused the president of projection, pointing out that he has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by numerous women, and that he has a long history of defending men accused of sexual assault, a list which includes Kavanaugh, former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore, and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

In a sworn declaration, Swetnick, a former federal employee who lives and works in Washington, D.C., said she was a “victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present” at a party in D.C. in approximately 1982.

“During the incident, I was incapacitated without my consent and unable to fight off the boys raping me,” she wrote, adding that, “I believe I was drugged using Quaaludes or something similar placed in what I was drinking.” She says she shared what happened with “at least two other people” shortly after the incident.

Swetnick recalls meeting she first met Kavanaugh and Judge, whom Dr. Ford alleges was present when she was assaulted, around 1980 or 1981. She described them as “extremely close friends” who were “joined at the hip.” She says she attended “well over ten house parties” from 1981 to 1983 and that she noticed Judge, Kavanaugh and others would attempt to “‘spike’ the ‘punch’ at house parties I attended with drugs and/or grain alcohol so as to cause girls to lose their inhibitions and their ability to say ‘No.’”

Kavanaugh and Judge would “‘target’ particular girls … it was usually a girl that was especially vulnerable because she was alone at the party or shy," she continued, adding that she has a “firm recollection” of seeing boys ― including Judge and Kavanaugh ― “lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room.”

Avenatti revealed the allegations against Kavanaugh earlier today. "Under no circumstances should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed absent a full and complete investigation," he wrote.

Swetnick's declaration comes on the heels of an accusation from Kavanaugh's Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a fraternity party. Dr. Ford, meanwhile, has submitted sworn witness statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee from four people close to her who are familiar with her sexual assault allegations. Dr. Ford's legal team plans to present these statements during a hearing tomorrow at which both she and Kavanaugh will testify.

Kavanaugh, for his part, has denied that any sexual assaults ever took place and has not, despite the scandal, offered to formally withdraw his nomination.

“I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process. The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out,” the embattled nominee wrote this week in a letter addressed to Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Complicating matters are the calls for an FBI investigation which only have continued to mount despite opposition from both Senate Republicans and the White House. Attorneys for Dr. Ford are insisting that the FBI should investigate her allegation despite pushback from Republicans who have claimed that to initiate an investigation would significantly delay a vote which has already been postponed. This reasoning has already been shown to be faulty: The FBI investigation of Anita Hill’s allegations that Justice Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her when he was her supervisor at the United States Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission only took three days.

President Trump has remained steadfast, however, and he has not shied away from dismissing allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh as “totally political.” The White House released a statement from Kavanaugh in response to the latest claims from Swetnick.