SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 1.15.2024
A lawyer can’t abandon a client during litigation for not paying his bills.
So, we will probably never learn the true reason Joseph Tacopina walked away on the eve of Trial.
Still it would be interesting to learn how soon Trump, notorious for manipulating and hiding his finances, settles his account with Mr. Tacopina.
Perhaps The New York Post will dig up the dirt and post a scoop on Mr. Tacopina’s sudden departure.
Excerpted from The New York Times 1.15.2024
Joseph Tacopina, the trial lawyer on Donald J. Trump’s legal team with the most successes defending high-profile clients, will no longer represent the former president in his criminal trial in Manhattan, according to a notice sent to the court on Monday.
The withdrawals came a day before jury selection is set to begin in a second trial stemming from the allegations brought by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Mr. Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
Mr. Tacopina also withdrew on Monday from another case in which he was still legally representing Mr. Trump: an appeal of the verdict in a lawsuit brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll. Mr. Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation last year and was ordered to pay Ms. Carroll $5 million.
It was not clear why Mr. Tacopina decided to withdraw, and he declined to comment.
His departure from the two cases comes as Mr. Trump enters a year of legal uncertainty. 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.
Top photo: Donald Trump in New York courtroom with Joseph Tacopina at is arraignment in the Stormy Daniels hush money prosecution. 2023
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