(PatriotWise.com) — Another experienced defense attorney has withdrawn from representing Donald Trump just as a federal jury was scheduled to convene to determine how much money the former president must pay E. Jean Carroll for defamatory comments he made about her in 2019, ABC News reported.
Defense attorney Joe Tacopina, who accompanied Trump to New York last April when he pleaded not guilty in the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, told ABC News that he had withdrawn “on all matters” related to Trump.
In a letter to Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the New York case, Tacopina informed the court that he, Chad Seigel, and his law firm were withdrawing as counsel for Trump in the hush money case.
Trump’s lead counsel in the case is Susan Necheles.
Tacopina also represented the former president in the battery and civil defamation case brought by former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. In May, a jury found Trump liable and ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million in damages.
The decision was appealed, but Tacopina will no longer be handling the appeal.
In Carroll’s other lawsuit, which began in a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Trump is represented by his legal spokeswoman, Alina Habba, and her partner, Michael Maddaio.
Tacopina was one of the few accomplished trial lawyers remaining on Trump’s legal team. He has a long track record of victories in criminal cases, with a client list that includes former baseball great Alex Rodriguez, rapper A$AP Rocky, and Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity.
Jury selection began on Tuesday in the second defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll.
The May 2023 trial focused on defamatory comments Trump made about Carroll in 2022 when he called her rape claim a “hoax” and “con job.”
The trial that got underway this week relates to remarks Trump made in 2019 after Carroll initially accused him of rape. Since a judge already ruled that those remarks were defamatory, the trial itself will focus solely on the amount of damages Trump will have to pay Carroll.
Carroll’s attorneys are seeking $10 million and other unspecified punitive damages.
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