Joe Tacopina Steps Down: Here’s A Timeline Of All The Trump Lawyers Who Have Quit

Topline Former President Donald Trump’s legal team faced another shake up this week after attorney Joseph Tacopina told a court he will no longer represent Trump in his New York criminal case—though he’s far from the first attorney to ditch Trump as the former president’s legal battles mount.

Two attorneys representing former President Donald Trump left his legal team after the former ... [+] president was indicted in the DOJ probe into his handling of classified documents. Timeline Jan. 16, 2024 Tacopina stepped away from defending Trump in his Manhattan case over alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, and also left Trump’s legal team in the former president’s appeal of a verdict in a civil defamation and sexual abuse suit brought by writer E.

Jean Carroll, the New York Times reported. Aug. 25, 2023 Drew Findling, a Georgia based attorney who had been representing Trump in the Georgia case, stepped down, sources told multiple outlets , with Trump hiring attorney Steven Sadow as his lead counsel just hours before he surrendered to authorities in Fulton County.

June 16 Attorney Jim Trusty requested to withdraw earlier this summer due to “irreconcilable differences” between him and Trump that make him unable to “effectively and properly represent” the former president in his defamation suit against CNN—Trump accused the cable giant of running a “smear campaign” against him, which he claimed escalated ahead of his 2024 presidential campaign announcement in November.

June 9 Trusty and attorneys John Rowley said in a joint statement they will no longer represent Trump in either the classified documents case or an ongoing Justice Department investigation into his role in the January 6 insurrection, though they did not provide a reason for their departure other than to call it a “logical moment” to leave Trump’s legal team.

May 17 Attorney Tim Parlatore—who also represented Trump in Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into whether Trump mishandled classified White House documents after leaving office—resigned from Trump’s legal team, calling the move “personal” and not a reflection of his “belief in the strength of the case,” CNN and Politico reported .

February 16, 2021 Trump cut ties with personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, as the former New York City mayor faced multiple lawsuits over his alleged role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, including one filed against Trump and Giuliani—Giuliani had been instrumental in Trump’s unsuccessful bid to challenge the results of President Joe Biden’s win in court.

January 31, 2021 Trump’s lead impeachment lawyers abruptly resigned ahead of the former president’s impeachment trial over allegations he incited the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, reportedly leaving because of Trump’s repeated and debunked claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

January 5, 2021 Attorney Cleta Mitchell resigned from the law firm Foley & Lardner where she was a partner after she spoke on a call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in which the former president famously asked Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state—Mitchell claimed she resigned due to “brazen attacks on conservatives and, most especially, anyone who supports and wants to help President Trump.” November 22, 2020 Trump fired far right attorney Sidney Powell, Giuliani announced in a statement, saying tersely that Powell is “not a member of the Trump Legal Team,” after she doubled down on baseless election fraud theories and vowed to “release the kraken of evidence”—Powell was later sued by Dominion Voting Systems and voting machine company Smartmatic for spreading false claims about their machines, though she told Forbes the suits against her have “no basis in fact or law.” November 16, 2020 Three of Trump’s campaign lawyers representing him in a suit to block Pennsylvania’s election certification—Bryan Hughes, Linda Kerns and John Scott— withdrew from the case , saying they “reached a mutual agreement” that Trump’s campaign “will be best served” without them on his legal team.

November 13, 2020 Two other Trump campaign lawyers with the firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur withdrew from the same case, while firm Snell & Wilmer withdrew from another case representing the Republican National Committee in the Trump campaign’s lawsuit over allegations poll workers in Arizona’s Maricopa County disenfranchised voters.

News Peg Trump on Monday won the Iowa caucuses in a landslide victory that will likely set the tone for the 2024 primary cycle. The former president secured 51% of votes (20 delegates), leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at 21.2% of votes, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, at 19.1%. The New Hampshire primary is scheduled for Jan.

23. Surprising Fact Trusty and Rowley issued a statement announcing their resignation just minutes after Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he will instead be represented in the case by attorney Todd Blanche—who also represents him in the Manhattan case over alleged hush money payments to Daniels and others before the 2016 presidential election—as well as a “firm to be named later.” Trump thanked Rowley and Trusty in the post, saying “they were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil and ‘sick’ group of people, the likes of which has not been seen before.” Crucial Quote In their statement, Rowley and Trusty said it was an “honor to have spent the last year defending [Trump],” and that they believe he “will be vindicated in his battle against the Biden Administration’s partisan weaponization of the American justice system”—reiterating growing GOP criticism of the FBI after its raid of Trump’s Mar A Lago estate last August, and of the DOJ for its probes into the former president.

Further Reading Trump Says He Was Indicted In DOJ Classified Documents Probe (Forbes) What Crimes Was Trump Charged With In Federal Documents Case? Here’s What We Know—And How Much Prison Time He Could Face (Forbes).