On Friday afternoon, a New York federal jury convicted liberal media darling and anti-Trump hero Michael Avenatti was convicted of identity theft and wire fraud involving porn star Stormy Daniels, his second guilty verdict in almost two years.
Not surprisingly, some in the liberal media wanted nothing to do with him as the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News ignored it on their lead Friday night newscasts.
That left ABC’s World News Tonight, which teased it twice before a measly 16-second news brief from anchor David Muir:
Tonight, disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti found guilty of stealing from Stormy Daniels. The jury here in New York, convicting him of wire fraud and identity theft. Daniels, who hired him in her lawsuit against former President Trump, accusing him of stealing $300,000 from her.
The guilty verdict — which seemed in doubt after the jury told the judge Friday morning one juror wasn’t cooperating — carries a prison length of up to 20 years and would be on top of the two and a half year prison term he was sentenced to in July regarding the first case (in which he defrauded Nike). Coincidentally, the same two ignored that.
Aside from 10 minutes and 19 second in the 3:00 p.m. Eastern hour of Hallie Jackson Reports, MSNBC has stayed away from the verdict. All in all, that’s not surprising since, as per our Bill D’Agostino in April 2019, MSNBC had played host to Avenatti 108 times.
Of the cable networks with traditional early evening newscasts, CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith was the strongest with Smith spending 55 seconds on Avenatti.
Smith joked that “Michael Avenatti likely won’t have a good weekend” as “he was found guilty today of stealing from his former client, Stormy Daniels.”
He even read from Daniels’s reaction to the verdict, cited Avenatti’s sentencing date, and brought up the Nike case.
Today, she told NBC News she is “grateful to the jurors that set aside prejudged notions about me or my work and the things” that “I have done, and they put that aside and looked at the evidence.” Michael Avenatti told reporters outside the courtroom he’s disappointed in the verdict and plans to appeal. Sentencing? May 24. He’s already set to serve two and a half years in prison on an earlier conviction of trying to extort millions of dollars out of Nike.
Always a reliable show, the Fox News Channel’s Special Report mentioned Avenatti’s latest negative headline prior to the first commercial break. Fill-in host Shannon Bream said in a 26-second news brief that “Avenatti represented himself throughout most of the trial” and “tried to cast himself as a white knight who came to Daniels’s rescue” while “[p]rosecutors portrayed him as a common thief and serial liar.”
Worse yet for CBS and NBC, PBS NewsHour mentioned Avenatti with as anchor Judy Woodruff had 18 seconds on Avenatti and NewsNation: Rush Hour host Nichole Berlie used 23 seconds to bring viewers up to speed (click “expand”)
WOODRUFF: A federal jury in New York convicted attorney Michael Avenatti today of wire fraud and identity theft. He was accused of cheating porn star Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000. The money was for writing a book about an alleged affair with former President Trump.
(....)
BERLIE: A day after the jury in Michael Avenatti’s trial said it could not come to a decision, the former lawyer for Stormy Daniels has been found guilty of stealing from the adult film star. Avenatti convicted of cheating Daniels out of almost $300,000 and this is not his only legal battle. He still has not started his prison sentence for trying to extort money from Nike and he's waiting for retrial in LA for allegedly stealing from clients.
But most embarrassing of all? After having kissed and worshipped at Avenatti’s feet 122 times by April 2019, CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer ate crow and spent five minutes and nine seconds on something that, while they wouldn’t admit, was another negative headline for the scandal-plagued left-wing channel.
To see the relevant transcripts from February 4, click here.
