Washington (CNN) Michael Avenatti said the Democratic Party's choice to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 should be a white man, according to an interview with Time magazine published Thursday.

"I think it better be a white male," Avenatti, a 2020 potential candidate himself, said.

Avenatti said in the piece that he wished it was not the case that white men, as he and Trump are, are listened to more than people of other races and genders, but that he believed his identity was part of why he had been able to defend adult film star Stormy Daniels and immigrant mothers.

"When you have a white male making the arguments, they carry more weight," Avenatti said. "Should they carry more weight? Absolutely not. But do they? Yes."

In a comment to CNN about the remark, Avenatti said, "I was misquoted, and it was taken out of context."

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