Brian Stelter Confronts Avenatti For Defending Past Threats To Journalists: ‘That’s Very Trumpy’

Days after his trainwreckish appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti showed up on CNN’s Reliable Sources to talk about the Tucker interview and his possible 2020 presidential run. And at one point, host Brian Stelter confronted the media obsessed lawyer over some of his Trumpian qualities.

After pushing back on the notion that entering the 2020 Democratic primary could be bad for the party and nation, Avenatti was asked about some of his troubling Trump-like tactics, such as his threat to sue Daily Caller reporters for defamation.

“How is that appropriate for anybody running for office?” Stelter wondered aloud.

“Well, if a journalist, quote/unquote, and I don’t believe the Daily Caller’s individuals are journalists by any stretch of the imagination,” Avenatti responded.

“That’s very Trumpy,” Stelter shot back. “That’s very Trumpy trying to drive a wedge between real and fake journalists.”

The ever-present lawyer told Stelter that he disagreed with his observation as he doesn’t think “all journalists are created equal.”

He continued, “I don’t believe many journalists adhere to the same standards as you and others at CNN or the New York Times or the Washington Post. Just like all attorneys are not ethical, all journalists do not adhere to the requisite standards of journalism. A lot of people have written a lot of negative things about me and they’ll continue to do so, and I don’t have a problem with that. That’s what this nation is all about. When people engage in tactics that do not meet basic journalistic standards and meet things up, from time to time, I’m going to call them out on it.”

Stelter then wanted to know about Avenatti’s habit of blocking his critics on Twitter, noting he recently blocked prominent Democrat Jon Favreau and other Dems. Avenatti said he was a private citizen and has a right to block people from his feed if they attack him personally.

“It’s a free country,” he added. “But they don’t need my feed to do it. I’m a private citizen. If I want to block somebody on Twitter, I can do it.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.