Michael Avenatti challenges Trump to compare their Penn school records

Lawyer suggests US president is not as smart as he claims to be

Michael Avenatti has challenged Donald Trump to release his student records so they can compare their results.

Mr Avenatti, the lawyer representing one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, suggested the US president struggled to get his economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“You constantly brag about how smart you are,” the lawyer wrote on Twitter. “Meanwhile, I think it is obvious that you barely made it through Penn, which happens to be where I went as well.

“Let’s both publicly release our complete Penn transcripts on Friday so people can compare. Agreed?”

As well as representing Julie Swetnick, Mr Avenatti is pursuing the president over an alleged payment of $130,000 (£100,000) to porn star Stormy Daniels’ to remain silent about their affair.

His request to see Mr Trump’s records from the Wharton School came after the pair traded insults over social media.

Mr Trump described him as “a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations” and “a total low-life”.

Mr Avenatti, who graduated from Penn with a degree in political science, responded by pointing to the guilty plea of Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen before describing the president as “an habitual liar and complete narcissist”, “an embarrassment to our nation”, a moron and a coward.

The president has yet to respond to the request for his education records.

Mr Avenatti has suggested he might run for president in 2020.