Avenatti blasts politicians' involvement in FBI investigation

YOUNGSTOWN

Prominent national attorney Michael Avenatti, who’s exploring a 2020 presidential bid, sharply criticized an FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

“To call it an investigation is a misnomer because I don’t think it was an investigation at all, frankly,” Avenatti, a Democrat, told The Vindicator during a Thursday interview at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, downtown. “It was flawed from the start in that you had politicians telling the FBI how to carry out their investigation. That’s not appropriate. The FBI should have been permitted to investigate the background of Brett Kavanaugh just as they would under any other circumstance. Part of the FBI’s job is to determine the credibility of witnesses and allegations. It’s not for politicians to do that for them.”

Avenatti was in the Mahoning Valley to speak at the Mahoning/Trumbull AFL-CIO Council’s annual dinner. It’s his third visit to the area since mid-July.

Read more of what he said about Kavanaugh and his own presidential aspirations in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.