Avenatti threatens to sue Daily Caller

Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing adult-film star Stormy Daniels, threatened legal action against two reporters at The Daily Caller on Monday if they continued to author “hit pieces” about him while issuing a warning that “significant damages” will be recovered.

One of the reporters, Peter J. Hasson, received the email from Avenatti on Monday morning and promptly shared it on Twitter after stating he hadn’t agreed to it being off the record.

Note: @MichaelAvenatti tried to call this off record, which of course aren’t terms I agreed to since it was an uninvited email pic.twitter.com/Ve6Guftwqq

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) May 14, 2018

“Off the Record … If you and your colleagues do not stop with the hit pieces that are full of lies and defamatory statements, I will have no choice but to sue each of you and your publication for defamation,” Avenatti, 47, wrote.

“During that process, we will expose your publication for what it truly is. We will also recover significant damages against each of you that participated personally,” he continued.

“So if I were you, I would tell Mr. Trump to find someone else to fabricate things about me. If you think I’m kidding, you really don’t know anything about me. This is the last warning,” Avenatti added.

The threat from Avenatti comes less than a day after Hasson and reporter Joe Simonson published a story breaking down a financial dispute between the attorney and David Morris, CEO of Dillanos Coffee Roasters.

Morris had accused Avenatti on Twitter of not paying him $160,000 he claims he was owed per a prior agreement. Morris also alleged the money was needed to keep the business running.

“So @StormyDaniels hot shot lawyer Michael owes my small company @Dillanos $160,179 for coffee,” Morris wrote on Twitter. “He talks a big talk about integrity. We trusted him,” Morris wrote in a since-deleted tweet on May 9.

Morris followed up with another tweet hours later stating he and Avenatti had “worked out an arrangement.” Terms were not disclosed.

Twitter did not delete my tweet, I did. My company @Dillanos Coffee Roasters worked out an arrangement with @MichaelAvenatti

— David J. Morris (@coffeemaverick) May 10, 2018

Several media members jumped to Hasson’s defense while slamming Avenatti for the threat.

This is the sort of intimidation tactic, suggesting a complete contempt for what reporters do, that someone like Michael Cohen would use. https://t.co/X8Dm3PTTWC

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 14, 2018

Am obviously more sympathetic to Avenatti, in a lot of ways, than to the Daily Caller, but bullshit legal threats against journalists ALWAYS need to be called out. It’s a terrible and irresponsible look. And something’s not “OFF THE RECORD” just because you type it, of course https://t.co/t1Q1MuIPmD

— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) May 14, 2018

Stormy Daniels lawyer @michaelavenatti threatens to sue reporter, insists that threat be off the record. https://t.co/AT1Yqjgmvg

— Byron York (@ByronYork) May 14, 2018

I’m guessing there would be more outrage at this behavior from @MichaelAvenatti if @peterjhasson were not from a conservative publication. As reporters, we must stand together, regardless of where we work, against these type of bullying tactics that seek to stifle reporting. https://t.co/X8SsuJGPvb

— Daniel Medina (@dmedin11) May 14, 2018

This would be getting more attention if it was a reporter for a mainstream or liberal publication and a lawyer representing the other side, but intimidating reporters is despicable no matter who it’s directed at. https://t.co/1CB8oIerbH

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) May 14, 2018