That answer would be: Who is Michael Avenatti?
During Thursday's Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions episode, none of the three champions, including record-breaking champion James Holzhauer, could come up with his name for the $800 question under the category "Lawyers, Law, & Legality," reports the Washington Free Beacon.
The question, "this lawyer's star rose while repping Stormy Daniels but fell after he was accused of trying to extort millions from Nike in 2019" stumped Holzhauer and the other contestants, who looked at host Alex Trebek blankly until their time ran out to answer.
Trebek gave the correct response while adding "his name quickly forgotten, obviously." The Avenatti clue was one of only a few none of the contestants could answer.
Avenatti became famous for a short time in 2018 while representing Daniels, the adult film actress who got a hush-money payment during President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign after claiming she'd had an affair with him in 2006.
The lawyer played up his time as Daniels' mouthpiece with repeated appearances on cable news, including more than 200 spots on CNN and MSNBC, where he insisted Trump would not make it through his first term in office.
He teased a bid for the Democratic nomination, but last December said he wouldn't run after domestic violence charges that had been filed against him were dropped.
Since then, he was arrested in March on charges of extortion and fraud in both New York and California and has been indicted for several criminal offenses including accusations that he stole about $300,000 from Daniels herself. He pleaded not guilty and blamed the Trump administration for his legal troubles.
Shortly before his arrest, Daniels dropped Avenatti as her attorney.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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