Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, slammed Stormy Daniels on Wednesday as someone he doesn't respect because of her career as an adult film star.
"I respect all human beings. I even have to respect criminals. But I'm sorry, I don't respect a porn star the way I respect a career women or a women of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a women and as a person and isn't going to sell her body for sexual exploitation," Giuliani said at an event in Tel Aviv.
"So, Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross-examine you," he added.
In response, Michael Avenatti, who is representing Daniels, called Giuliani an "absolute, disgusting pig" and demanded Trump fire him "immediately."
Avenatti told MSNBC on Thursday that Giuliani's comments "show how ... out of touch he is with today's society, show what a pig he truly is, shows that he thinks he's above the law and above rebuke, and it shows that he must believe that this president will support him and back him for these outrageous comments against woman and my client."
"We cannot have men in positions of power basically making these statements against women," Avenatti added. "It doesn't matter what a women’s profession is. It has nothing to do with their credibility or whether they should be respected."
Giuliani stood by his comments Thursday.
"Why would I withdraw them?" he told NBC News. "You're going to tell me being involved in pornography isn't demeaning to women? I don't know, do you have a daughter?"
Pressed on whether his comments were an effort to undermine Daniels' credibility, Giuliani responded: "I don't have to undermine her credibility. She's done it by lying."
In a lawsuit filed in March, Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, said she had an "intimate" relationship with Trump in 2006 and 2007 and struck a deal a decade later to keep quiet about it. Daniels signed the deal, a secrecy agreement facilitated by Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in exchange for $130,000 days before the 2016 election. She has contended, however, that the pact is void because Trump never signed the agreement.
In a new suit filed Wednesday, Clifford said her former attorney betrayed her and became a "puppet" for Trump and his personal lawyer while still representing her.