While teasing Stormy Daniels' upcoming "60 Minutes" interview, her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, dropped an explosive claim: That his client was threatened with "physical harm."
It's not clear who he's claiming threatened Daniels. He only said you'll have to tune into CBS to learn more.
"Was she threatened in any way?" MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski asked the Avenatti Friday morning.
"Yes," he replied.
"Was she threatened physical harm?" she followed up.
"Yes," he repeated.
The interview is scheduled to air March 25th. CBS said the segment will air despite attempts from Trump's legal team to quash it.
Here's a transcript of the exchange:
BRZEZINSKI: “Was she threatened in any way?”
AVENATTI: “Yes.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Was she threatened physical harm?”
AVENATTI: “Yes.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Oh, wow.”
HEILEMANN: “Keep going, Mika.”
SCARBOROUGH: “We started the tease and you just —“
BRZEZINSKI: “Was her life threatened?”
AVENATTI: “Again, I won’t answer that. People will have to tune in to ‘60 Minutes.’ on March 25th.”
HEILEMANN: “Now we’re back to the deep tease.”
SCARBOROUGH: “So now you’re working for Les Moonves.”
(Laughter)
BRZEZINSKI: “There’s obviously so much more here.”
SCARBOROUGH: “So what can you tell us about the threats, the physical threats?”
AVENATTI: “I can’t tell you anything beyond what I’ve already said. Again —“
SCARBOROUGH: “Can you tell us whether it came from the President directly, the physical threats?”
AVENATTI: “I won’t answer that.”
SCARBOROUGH: “Will you deny the President of the United States threatened your client?”
AVENATTI: “I will not confirm or deny.”
GEIST: “Will you confirm or deny that in the ‘60 Minutes’ interview?”
AVENATTI: “Again, I think it will become apparent to people when they tune into ‘60 Minutes’ on March 25 as to the details relating to the threat and the American people can judge for themselves on who is telling the truth and who is not telling the truth. And, again, we’re not trying to silence anyone. We want both sides to lay out their version of the facts so the American people can decide for themselves what happened.”
HEILEMANN: “Let me ask one more question about the threat. Does the threat emanate from one of the parties to the agreement or someone associated with one of the parties to the agreement?”
AVENATTI: “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Yes/no question. Was the threat verbal?”
SCARBOROUGH: “Well, you can’t say yes or no to that, can you?”
AVENATTI: “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”
BRZEZINSKI: “Did anyone point a gun at her?”
AVENATTI: “I’m not at liberty to discuss that. You can ask it 17 different ways, I’ll give you the same answer. But I applaud your tenaciousness.”