CNN’s Stelter Reflects Back on Taking Michael Avenatti Seriously: ‘Was That Stupid On My Part?’

CNN’s Brian Stelter reacted to Michael Avenatti’s extortion conviction by offering a degree of contrition for his role in elevating the attorney as a media figure.

Avenatti, who rose to public notoriety as Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer, was found guilty of all charges last week in the trial for his attempts to extort Nike. This marks the completion of Avenatti’s fall from grace from the days when he went on regular media blitzes and led the charge against President Donald Trump’s attempts to cover up his extramarital affair.

Stelter has defended himself in the past for taking Avenatti seriously, but on Sunday’s Reliable Sources, he remarked that “I’ve been getting some grief from Sean Hannity this weekend…for once suggesting that I thought Avenatti could be a serious candidate for president.”

“Was that stupid on my part?” Stelter asked his panel. “What do you make of how Avenatti was covered by CNN and MSNBC?”

Lachlan Markay answered by saying Avenatti “was very similar to Trump” in terms of how both of them are masters at operating the media.

“That’s what really drew a lot of Trump’s critics to him, this idea that he could sort of beat Trump at his own game. The question that I think a lot of journalists now have to ask themselves is whether: by virtue of granting that, they were being played by that very strategy, his ability to sort of manipulate the media. I think that a lot of folks did take him very seriously without looking at the extensive personal, financial, and legal baggage out there waiting to be reported.”

Watch above, via CNN.