Complaint filed by Stormy Daniels’ lawyer alleges Trump’s attorney has a massive conflict of interest
12 April 2023
Donald Trump's bombastic lawyer, Joe Tacopina, may run into some problems with his work on the hush money case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Stormy Daniels's lawyer, Clark Brewster, has filed a complaint to a New York attorney grievance committee, revealing communications between the adult film star and Tacopina in Feb. 2018. She had approached him about being her attorney in matters related to Donald Trump.
"Brewster provided to prosecutors communications between his client and Tacopina after hearing Trump’s lawyer make public statements Brewster said are at odds with those privileged communications," said the report.
Tacopina disagrees with the claim, telling The Post, “I’ve never had a disciplinary finding against me in my 32 years of practice and I intend on keeping it that way.”
Former New York City Commissioner Bernard Kerik, filed a complaint in 2013 against Tacopina alleging “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and/or misrepresentation." Kerik claimed Tacopina handed prosecutors privileged information about Kerik that helped their case. No action was taken.
The conflict was addressed by prosecutors during the Trump arraignment last week, where they asked the judge to “conduct an inquiry at an appropriate time of both Mr. Tacopina and the defendant about potential conflict issues related to his prior dealings with Daniels.”
Brewster tried speaking to Tacopina first about the conflict weeks after he appeared on MSNBC's "The Beat with Ari Melber." He explained that the letter is largely consistent with his complaint.
Brewster explained that Daniels ultimately hired Michael Avenatti instead of Tacopina, but “the confidential communications she shared with you and your colleagues — leading to a quote of a retainer fee — consisted of shared confidences regarding an opposing party clearly identified in those communications.”
“For you to now represent that opposing party — Donald Trump — would be an ethical breach damaging Ms. Clifford and potentially leading to professional discipline,” Brewster explained.
In New York, a defendant has a right to choose their lawyer and can be overridden if there is "competing public interest," Brewster explained.
Tacopina told the judge there were "factual inaccuracies" in the complaint, claiming he never reviewed any of Daniels' documents and saying he spoke with his paralegal.
“We refused the case,” Tacopina claimed. “I did not offer her representation. I didn’t speak to her. Didn’t meet with her. And it is as simple as that.”
Lawyers who are found in violation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct are typically fined and in the most extreme cases, disbarred.
Trump's legal team is reportedly annoyed with Tacopina for angering others and generally being "an idiot."