Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti, whom the liberal mainstream media once bent over backwards to fawn over and even promote as a potential presidential candidate, received his sentence of 14 years on Monday. He was also ordered by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna to pay nearly $11 million in restitution. Avenatti has been charged with and pled guilty for a litany of crimes, in this case for four counts of wire fraud and another count of endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Code that he pled guilty to back in June. Avenatti had been found guilty of wire fraud back in February as well.
Among those reporting on Avenatti's sentence from Monday included CNN, which, as our friends at Twitchy pointed out, is certainly noteworthy given how much the network fawned over him in the past.
Monday's report from Devan Cole begins the report by referring to Avenatti as "disgraced." Further down, Cole writes:
Monday’s sentence represents the latest episode in an extraordinary years-long legal drama surrounding Avenatti, whose representation of Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who alleged she had an affair with former President Donald Trump years before he ran for office, made the pugnacious attorney a household name.
It's particularly rich that Cole would mention how it was Avenatti's "representation of Stormy Daniels" that "made the pugnacious attorney a household name," as if that were the only contributing factor. For it was also glowing media coverage, including from CNN, that helped propel Avenatti to such a status.
When recently-ousted Brian Stelter was still with the network, he had Avenatti on his show to fawn all over him, declaring "I’m taking you seriously as a contender is because of your presence on cable news."
CNN's Brian Stelter last year on Michael Avenatti running for president: "And looking ahead to 2020, one reason I’m taking you seriously as a contender is because of your presence on cable news.” pic.twitter.com/2Wn2bX17kx
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 22, 2019
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CNN's tweet of Cole's article from Monday afternoon received over 600 replies, many of them highlighting how cozy the network once was with Avenatti.
Man he was CNN’s choice for president in 2020.
— Harley Kesselman (@harleykesselman) December 5, 2022
Remember when you wanted him as the next president ?
— The (now defunct) ministry of matt (@jadedpanther14) December 5, 2022
Seems like yesterday that the likes of CNN paraded him around as some kind of hero. I haven't forgotten.
— SchizoidMan1989 (@SchizoidMan1989) December 5, 2022
In addition to Stelter declaring that Avenatti was "a serious contender," then CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza, who has been even more recently ousted, wrote a piece on July 5, 2018, "President Michael Avenatti? Never say never!" On August 19, 2018, Sara Sidner and Dan Merica also wrote a piece, "Avenatti’s actions on potential presidential run speak louder than his words." It's worth mentioning that that piece referred to Avenatii as a "boisterous lawyer."
CNN wasn't the only outlet. In a piece from November 9, 2018 for The Washington Post, Aaron Blake actually ranked Avenatti as the 14th top presidential pick for the Democratic Party for 2020. Avenatti bested former Rep. John Delaney (D-MD) and fourteen "honorable mentions."
Missing from Cole's report is that one of Avenatti's victims was "a paraplegic with mental health issues," as laid out in a press release from the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California on the day of the disgraced attorney's sentencing.
Avenatti is currently in prison for other crimes he was found guilty of. When sentencing him, Judge Selna also ordered that this term run consecutive to his other sentences totaling five years imposed by the Southern District of New York.
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