Michael Avenatti: 2020 Democratic nominee 'better be a white male'

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

Michael Avenatti.

• Michael Avenatti was quoted in a TIME Magazine profile saying that Democrats needed to nominate a white man for president in 2020.
• He later denied saying so and accused TIME of fabricating the comments.
• "I think it better be a white male ... when you have a white male making the arguments, they carry more weight," he was quoted as saying.
• He later called the comments "complete bulls---" to The Daily Caller.
• Avenatti, whose name has been floated as a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2020, has faced a number of legal setbacks in recent weeks.

Bombastic attorney and potential Democratic presidential candidate Michael Avenatti was quoted in a TIME Magazine profile saying that Democrats needed to nominate a white man for president in 2020, before denying the comments and accusing the magazine of fabricating them.

"I think it better be a white male," Avenatti was quoted as saying in the TIME interview when asked whom Democrats should nominate for president in 2020.

Avenatti was quoted in the interview as saying he believes his increased visibility and legal successes stem in part from his status as a white man. He represents porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, as well as immigrant mothers separated from their children at the border.

"When you have a white male making the arguments, they carry more weight," he said. "Should they carry more weight? Absolutely not. But do they? Yes."

When The Daily Caller contacted Avenatti about his remarks, he told the publication he "never" made them.

"That's complete bulls---," he said. "That's my comment, complete bulls---."

TIME said it stood by its reporting.

Avenatti, known for his straight-talking, often confrontational personality, has dealt with a number of legal setbacks in recent weeks. On October 15, a federal judge dismissed his client Stormy Daniels' defamation lawsuit against Trump and ordered her to pay Trump's legal fees in the matter.

On Monday, a federal judge ordered Avenatti to pay a former employee almost $5 million in unpaid wages, the same day his law firm was evicted from its offices in Newport Beach, California, for allegedly not paying over $200,000 in rent.

And on Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee referred Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation. Swetnick accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh being present during "gang rapes" at Washington, DC-area parties in the 1980s.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said the criminal referrals were "related to a potential conspiracy to provide materially false statements to Congress and obstruct a congressional committee investigation, three separate crimes" during Kavanaugh's confirmation process, against which Avenatti pushed back in a Thursday tweet.