As the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti has been a persistent thorn in Donald Trump's side. But in the last few days, Avenatti has gone a step further, strongly suggesting he is ready to take on the president in the 2020 elections and positioning himself as someone tough enough to take on Trump in a bare-knuckles battle for the White House. "I'm going to put Donald Trump on trial," he said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

"The only question is how many jurors are we going to have in that trial." Avenatti, who represents Daniels in the legal dispute over her claim that a Trump lawyer paid her to remain silent about an alleged affair with the future president, traveled to the Iowa State Fair on Thursday -- an almost mandatory stop for presidential aspirants in the first state to hold a presidential nominating contest every four years. "I'm exploring a run for the presidency of the United States," the California-based attorney told the Des Moines Register newspaper, in an unusually direct statement so early in the game. In his speech Friday to the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding dinner -- where Democratic presidential hopefuls vie to raise their profiles -- he portrayed himself as a street fighter ready to aggressively take on Trump.