UPDATE: TMZ originally reported that the woman was Avenatti’s estranged wife, they now report that “it was not. The incident involved a different woman.”
Law enforcement officials have reportedly arrested attorney Michael Avenatti for suspected felony domestic violence against a woman that reportedly left her face “swollen and bruised.”
Sources told TMZ that “the alleged incident occurred Tuesday, but there was a confrontation Wednesday between the two at an exclusive apartment building in the Century City area of L.A.”
The woman reportedly ran out of the apartment building today, screaming on her cell phone, “I can’t believe you did this to me. I’m going to get a restraining order against you.”
“We’re told security brought her inside the building, took her upstairs and Michael showed up 5 minutes later, running into the building,” TMZ reported.
Avenatti later reportedly screamed, “She hit me first,” adding, “This is bulls***, this is f***ing bulls***.”
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed with a Los Angeles police spokesman that Avenatti was arrested for suspected felony domestic violence.
The Los Angeles Police Department later confirmed the news via Twitter: “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.”
Avenatti’s arrest is just the latest legal problem he is currently facing as the Senate Judiciary Committee has made two referrals to the Department of Justice and FBI for a criminal investigation into Michael Avenatti “relating to a potential conspiracy to provide materially false statements to Congress and obstruct a congressional committee investigation, three separate crimes.”
Avenatti is a 2020 presidential hopeful and is a regular guest on CNN where the network allows him to bash the president, seemingly without limits.
As of mid-June, Avenatti had appeared on cable news networks a total of 173 television, including 82 appearances on CNN, according to NewsBusters.
As of publication, CNN was the only major news organization that had not published a news article on Avenatti’s arrest.
Curtis Houck, a Managing Editor NewsBusters, reported that CNN took 2 hours to report the news on television:
This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.