HOUSTON — The back and forth between Houston attorney Tony Buzbee and Deshaun Watson's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, continues as sexual misconduct lawsuits filed against the Texas quarterback continue to mount.
EDITORIAL NOTE: The above video originally aired March 31.
In a recent statement, Hardin said Buzbee's "latest excuse for failing to go to law enforcement is also his lamest."
After initially vowing to turn over evidence to the Houston Police Department, Buzbee said he changed his mind because he was worried about his past conflict with former Chief Art Acevedo and because Hardin has friends on the command staff.
RELATED: Attorney Rusty Hardin denies allegations that Deshaun Watson contacted women to settle lawsuits
Hardin called the suggestion of bias "insulting to the dedicated professionals at HPD and to common sense."
"Buzbee’s failure to go to law enforcement does not result from some baseless fear that HPD will not fairly investigate, Hardin said. "Instead, it is from the knowledge that his parade of anonymous allegations could not survive the rigorous inquiry of trained investigators or the need to attest to the truth of the allegations under oath."
Buzbee clapped back in an Instagram post Thursday.
"Note that most of what we have heard as a defense from Watson’s camp so far is focused on me. If I were in their shoes I’d instead focus on attempting to mount a credible legal defense against very serious allegations, rather than continue to criticize me. Twenty-one massage therapists have filed suit against Deshaun Watson, alleging serious, very specific allegations. In response, Watson’s camp went out and found eighteen additional massage therapists to say that they weren’t assaulted. Laying aside the question: “why does a world class athlete within the Texans Organization go outside the organization to get “massages” from more than fifty different women off of Instagram, I can only make one coment regarding Watson’s camp latest response: lame."
Earlier, Buzbee said he and his clients do plan on giving evidence to other investigative authorities.
There have now been 21 lawsuits filed against Watson that either accuse him of sexual misconduct or sexual assault.
On Wednesday, Hardin released statements from 18 licensed massage therapists who have worked with Watson. All of the women defended him and said he's never done anything remotely inappropriate. One of them called the allegations in the lawsuits "ludicrous."
Hardin added they've collectively worked with Watson more than 130 times over the past five years.
“These statements show the other side to this story that has been so lacking in the flurry of anonymous complaints filed by opposing counsel,” Hardin said.
Click here to read the statements from each massage therapist defending Waston.