High-profile attorney quits 2 Trump cases as 'year of legal uncertainty' begins
Attorney Joseph Tacopina has been representing former President Donald Trump in two separate cases: a criminal prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. and an appeal of the verdict in former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll's first civil defamation case.
But according to the New York Times' Maggie Haberman, Tacopina has withdrawn from both cases.
"His departure from the two cases comes as Mr. Trump enters a year of legal uncertainty," Haberman reports in an article published on Monday, January 15. "He faces four criminal indictments, and trials with dates that are up in the air. The trial in Manhattan, in which he is accused of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments to a porn star during the 2016 election, could begin as early as March."
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The New York Times reporter adds, "Its timing may depend on whether the federal trial accusing Mr. Trump of illegally trying to subvert the 2020 election is delayed. That trial is also scheduled for March."
According to Haberman, it is "not clear" why Tacopina has withdrawn from the two cases — and he declined to offer the Times a reason.
Tacopina's clients have included Fox News' Sean Hannity, rapper A$AP Rocky and former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.
Tacopina has been representing Trump in the first of two civil defamation lawsuits that Carroll filed against him.
READ MORE: US appeals court strikes down Trump's immunity argument in E. Jean Carroll case
Carroll alleges that Trump tried to rape her in a Manhattan department store in 1996, and in the first case, a jury agreed with Carroll that Trump had committed sexual abuse and defamation. And a jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million.
The trial in Carroll's second defamation case against Trump is scheduled to get underway this Tuesday, October 16, with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan presiding.
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Maggie Haberman's full New York Times report is available at this link (subscription required).
