Actress Mareli Miniutti was granted a temporary restraining order against Michael Avenatti after she declared in court documents that he grabbed her and dragged her during a fight this month.
Avenatti declared his innocence on Twitter Tuesday, noting that an initial TMZ story about his Nov. 14 arrest on a domestic violence charge was erroneous. (TMZ initially misidentified the woman who accused him.) He also said he had authorized the release of security camera footage that he said would exonerate him.
“When the truth and the facts are fully disclosed, including the security camera footage, I will be vindicated and a lot of people and news organizations are going to owe me an apology as well as money. Completely bogus. Let’s start with TMZ’s reporting from last week,” Avenatti wrote.
Avenatti is best known for representing Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, in her legal fight with President Trump. She has said she will drop Avenatti as her attorney if he is proven guilty of the accusations.
In a declaration filed on Monday, Miniutti said that she was in a “dating relationship” with Avenatti from October 2017 until Nov. 13, 2018, and that they had lived together from January 2018 until that date.
According to the declaration, she and Avenatti began arguing about money on the night of Nov. 13, and Avenatti called her an “ungrateful, f—ing bitch.”
Miniutti also said in her declaration that he hit her in the face with pillows from the bed and “grabbed the wrist of my right arm.”
“Respondent attempted to pull me out of the bed, which caused pain to my arm and wrist,” the declaration continued.
In her declaration, Miniutti said that she began sending text messages to a friend on her cell phone, and that after a few minutes, Avenatti “yelled at me, and grabbed the phone out of my hand and screamed, ‘this is my phone!’ and put it in his pocket.”
The declaration stated that Avenatti “then grabbed my right arm and dragged me out of the bed. He dragged me on the floor of the apartment towards and out of the door into the public hallway. I was wearing only my underwear and a T-shirt at the time, and suffered scratches to the bare skin on my side and leg.”
The declaration added that Avenatti “then grabbed my right arm and dragged me out of the bed. He dragged me on the floor of the apartment towards and out of the door into the public hallway. I was wearing only my underwear and a T-shirt at the time, and suffered scratches to the bare skin on my side and leg.”
Miniutti said that she began ringing her neighbor’s doorbell for help, and Avenatti yelled at her, grabbed her by the arm again, and pulled her back into the apartment. Her declaration said that Avenatti blocked the door and prevented her from leaving the apartment, and refused to return her phone.
According to her declaration, Miniutti was eventually able to get out of the apartment and got in the service elevator, and that Avenatti followed her inside. Miniutti said that Avenatti “repeatedly begged, ‘Don’t do this Mareli, don’t involve them.’”
The declaration said that Miniutti went to the front desk, followed by Avenatti, and Avenatti returned her phone. She said people at the front desk called for security, who took her alone into another room to talk to her. She then called a friend, who agreed to come pick her up, she said.
“Once at her home, I saw red marks on my left side. I called the police, who arrived and took my statement,” the declaration continued.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Avenatti’s Nov. 14 arrest. “We can confirm that today LAPD Detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence. This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available,” the department said.
Avenatti has not responded to TheWrap’s request for comment on the declaration. But he has repeatedly taken to Twitter to deny wrongdoing.
“I look forward to a full clearing of my name and disclosure of all of the facts,” he wrote Monday. “I have NEVER abused a woman or committed domestic violence against anyone. Any claim to the contrary is completely bogus and fabricated. I am a target. And I will be exonerated.”
In another tweet, Avenatti wrote, “.@tmz cannot even reconcile their story from last week with their story from today. They can’t have it both ways. Their conduct is disgusting and they need to rectify it immediately. We demand a retraction and an apology. Now.”
He added Tuesday: “I want the truth to be known – all of it. The truth about the alleged incident on Tues night/Wed am, as well as the truth about TMZ’s completely false reporting about last Wed afternoon. I want it ALL disclosed. ASAP. As a result, I just authorized the release of all the video.”
When the truth and the facts are fully disclosed, including the security camera footage, I will be vindicated and a lot of people and news organizations are going to owe me an apology as well as money. Completely bogus. Let’s start with TMZ’s reporting from last week.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 20, 2018
.@tmz cannot even reconcile their story from last week with their story from today. They can’t have it both ways. Their conduct is disgusting and they need to rectify it immediately. We demand a retraction and an apology. Now.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 20, 2018