DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

In their shrieking, hysterical, psychotic desperation to find someone, anyone, to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and once again restore sense and decency to the universe, the Democrats have floated many possible candidates.  One of the most prominent of these (at least in his own mind) is lawyer Michael Avenatti, he of the stripper client and anti-Brett Kavanaugh "witnesses."

Mikey Nats has spoken at just about every Democratic forum or gathering that will give him a stage and more than a few lefties who don't like or even understand the United States at all are praying to whatever it is that such people pray to that he will be the Democratic Trump, a prospect that's suddenly looking increasingly unlikely.

When Sen. Chuck Grassley referred attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation Thursday, he cited Swetnick's interview with NBC News as evidence the two were trying to mislead the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In the NBC News interview that aired on Oct. 1, Swetnick back-tracked on or contradicted parts of her sworn statement where she alleged she witnessed then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh "cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of boys."

NBC News also found other apparent inconsistencies in a second sworn statement from another woman whose statement Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a bid to bolster Swetnick's claims.

In the second statement, the unidentified woman said she witnessed Kavanaugh "spike" the punch at high school parties in order to sexually take advantage of girls. But less than 48 hours before Avenatti released her sworn statement on Twitter, the same woman told NBC News a different story.

Referring to Kavanaugh spiking the punch, "I didn't ever think it was Brett," the woman said to reporters in a phone interview arranged by Avenatti on Sept. 30 after repeated requests to speak with other witnesses who might corroborate Swetnick's claims. As soon as the call began, the woman said she never met Swetnick in high school and never saw her at parties and had only become friends with her when they were both in their 30s.

When asked in the phone interview if she ever witnessed Kavanaugh act inappropriately towards girls, the woman replied, "no." She did describe a culture of heavy drinking in high school that she took part in, and said Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were part of that group.

 

In a statement Thursday about his referral of Swetnick and Avenatti for a criminal investigation, Grassley said, "When a well-meaning citizen comes forward with information relevant to the committee's work, I take it seriously….But in the heat of partisan moments, some do try to knowingly mislead the committee. That's unfair to my colleagues, the nominees and others providing information who are seeking the truth."

Mikey's even lost CNN's Chris Cilizza and when you've lost CNN...

Everywhere you turn, Michael Avenatti is there.

Says the guy from the network that couldn't televise Mikey Nats enough.

Of late, that's turned into not such a good thing for the celebrity-lawyer-turned-2020-presidential aspirant. A brief review of Avenatti's recent problems includes:

 

* Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, referred Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick, who alleged that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh attended a party where she was drugged and gang raped, to the Justice Department for possible criminal investigation Thursday. Grassley charged that Swetnick and Avenatti lied to committee investigators looking into the allegations against Kavanaugh. Avenatti denied that he or Swetnick misled investigators.

 

* In a Time magazine profile on him, Avenatti said that he believed that it had "better be a white male" running against President Donald Trump in 2020. Avenatti told CNN that he had been misquoted and taken out of context.

 

* A California judge ruled earlier this week that Avenatti had to pay almost $5 million to make good on a debt he owed to his former law partner. Avenatti responded by saying that his ex-partner owes him even more money.

 

* The Daily Beast published a piece suggesting that Avenatti has personally owed more than $1 million in unpaid personal taxes. Avenatti referred to the story as a "hit piece."

 

I guess this is what pilots refer to as augering in.  Get out the butter and the Marmite because as a plausible presidential candidate, Mikey Nats is toast.

UPDATE: They're bailing, ambulance-chaser.  Chuck Todd's on board.