Trump's attorneys Jim Trusty, John Rowley resign after indictment
Donald Trump’s legal team got reshuffled Friday after two of his top attorneys resigned — less than 24 hours after one of them went on a media blitz about the former president’s classified documents indictment.
The lawyers, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, issued a joint statement saying they had tendered their resignations first thing Friday.
They didn’t elaborate on the reasoning behind their sudden departure other than to say it was “a logical moment for us to step aside” after the 37-count indictment against the 76-year-old ex-president was filed in Miami US District Court.
“It has been an honor to have spent the last year defending him, and we know he will be vindicated in his battle against the Biden administration’s partisan weaponization of the American justice system,” Trusty and Rowley said.
“Now that the case has been filed in Miami, this is a logical moment for us to step aside and let others carry the cases through to completion.
“We have no plans to hold media appearances that address our withdrawals or any other confidential communications we’ve had with the president or his legal team.”
Jim Trusty and John Rowley resigned as Donald Trump’s lawyers first thing Friday after the former president’s indictment was handed down. AP
Trump confirmed the departure of his two top attorneys, saying they “were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil, and “sick” group of people.” Donald Trump / Truth Social
The lawyers added they would also no longer represent Trump in the investigation of his efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Trump took to Truth Social to confirm their departure and to reveal he would be repped by attorney Todd Blanche and others going forward.
“For purposes of fighting the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time, now moving to the Florida Courts, I will be represented by Todd Blanche, Esq., and a firm to be named later,” Trump wrote.
Blanche, a New York-based defense lawyer, is representing Trump in a criminal case out of Manhattan tied to “hush money” payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
Trump took to Truth Social to confirm their departure and to reveal he would be repped by New York lawyer Todd Blanche.
Todd Blanche is representing Trump in a criminal case out of Manhattan tied to “hush money” payments ahead of the 2016 election. Steven Hirsch
“I want to thank Jim Trusty and John Rowley for their work, but they were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil, and ‘sick’ group of people, the likes of which has not been seen before. We will be announcing additional lawyers in the coming days,” Trump continued. “When will Joe Biden be Indicted for his many crimes against our Nation? MAGA!”
However, former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore told The Post Friday that Blanche’s hiring may present “a conflict,” given that the lawyer is also representing Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, who was reportedly grilled by prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office in April.
Smith is overseeing the classified documents case as well as the probe of Trump’s actions around the 2020 election. It is unclear in which case Epshteyn would have been questioned.
The legal shakeup came after Trusty gave a series of interviews late Thursday detailing the charges brought against the 45th president tied to the retention of classified White House documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate last August.
“It does have some language in it that suggests what the seven charges would be. Not 100% clear that all of those are separate charges, but they basically break out from an Espionage Act charge,” Trusty told CNN.
The indictment, unsealed Friday, is the first federal case ever brought against a sitting or former president. Trump is charged with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count of scheming to conceal a document or record and one count of making false statements.
Source: New York Post
