Former President Donald J. Trump has been indicted on 37 counts of seven charges, involving the theft and mishandling of classified documents. You can read the full indictment here. We don’t have access to much of the evidence being used, but CNN has an exclusive tape where Trump admitted to not having declassified the documents (in his mind or otherwise).
What’s even more interesting is that early on Friday morning, two of Trump’s (former) lawyers, John Rowley and Jim Trusty, announced they are no longer representing Trump in his investigations.
Why did Trump’s lawyers resign?
Rowley and Trusty have not given much of a reason for them leaving their client, only saying that “this is a logical moment” for their exit.
This indicates that it’s a ‘voluntary withdrawal,’ where an attorney drops a client. According to Lawyers.com, an attorney might withdraw from a case when the client is refusing to pay for the lawyer’s services, the client isn’t following the lawyer’s advice, or the client is “engaged in fraudulent conduct.”
And honestly, with Trump, it could be all of those reasons. Part of the breakdown of Trump and Rudy Gulliani’s attorney/client relationship was reportedly due to a failure/refusal to pay for services.
Or maybe Rowley and Trusty didn’t want to deal with the other lawyers like Alina Habba, who says she’s “ashamed to be a lawyer” because the indictment supposedly shows that “it is so obvious that there’s this dual system of justice.”
(She’s so close to an epiphany but the problem is, it’s the opposite of how she thinks it’s skewed.)
Trump has gotten away with criminal behavior for decades just because he was rich. The fact that he’s only now receiving some form of legal liability shows just how much you can get away with when you have money, power, and influence.
Trump’s other lawyers (and lawsuits)
Even now, Rowley and Trusty’s departure is not going to hurt Trump, as they are only two of his lawyers. He has about 17 handling his many court cases and lawsuits.
M. Evan Corcoran, Lindsey Halligan, Christopher Kise, and Christina Bobb are handling the Mar-a-Lago case about Trump stealing classified documents.
Ron Fischetti and Alina Habba have been handling the New York Attorney General’s civil investigation of Trump’s assets and reported value.
Drew Findling, Dwight Thomas, and Jennifer Little are handling Trump’s defense in Fulton County’s investigation regarding Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
Corcoran and Kise are working on the Jan. 6 grand jury.
William Consovoy, Patrick Strawbridge, and Cameron Norris are working on Trump’s tax returns.
Habba, Michael T. Madaio, Peter Ticktin, and Jamie Alan Sasson are handling his lawsuit against Hillary Clinton (because he cannot, will not stop beating that dead horse).
Jesse Binnall is handling Jan. 6 civil litigation over personal lawsuits by Capitol Police officers and members of Congress for his culpability in their near-murders.
Timothy Parlatore is handling the FEC complaint against Hunter Biden.
Trusty had been working on both the Mar-a-Lago case and the January 6th Grand jury, while Rowley had been part of the Fulton County investigation.
In any case, we will be keeping a close eye on the investigations as they unfold.
(featured image: Seth Wenig, Pool / Getty Images)
