One of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys has withdrawn from his ongoing defamation suit against CNN just days after removing himself from the embattled pol’s federal defense team.
Jim Trusty cited “irreconcilable differences” between himself and his client as the reason for his request to be withdrawn as the 77-year-old’s attorney in his suit against the cable news channel, according to federal court papers filed Friday.
Those differences, Trusty wrote in the three-page filing, mean he “can no longer effectively and properly represent” the former president.
On June 9, Trusty and fellow Trump attorney John Rowley resigned from the former president’s legal team after he was indicted on federal charges of improperly retaining troves of classified national defense records — and even storing boxes in a bathroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday in Miami federal court.
Donald Trump attorneys James Trusty (right) and John Rowley (left) leave the Department of Justice in Washington on Monday, June 5, 2023. AP
In this handout photo provided by the Department of Justice, boxes are stacked in a bathroom and shower at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Getty Images
Trusty and Rowley did not explain why they decided to resign, other than to say the aftermath of the indictment was “a logical moment for us to step aside.”
“It has been an honor to have spent the last year defending him, and we know he will be vindicated in his battle against the Biden administration’s partisan weaponization of the American justice system,” the pair said in their joint statement.
“Now that the case has been filed in Miami, this is a logical moment for us to step aside and let others carry the cases through to completion. We have no plans to hold media appearances that address our withdrawals or any other confidential communications we’ve had with the president or his legal team.”
Former President Donald Trump next to White House chief of staff John Kelly during a briefing with senior military leaders at the White House in Washington on October 5, 2017. REUTERS
Trump delivers remarks outside the clubhouse at the Trump National Golf Club on June 13, 2023, in Bedminster, New Jersey. Getty Images
Trump sued CNN in October 2022 for $475 million, accusing the channel of executing a “campaign of libel and slander” and making a “concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the left.”
“CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler,’” states the lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
CNN has moved to dismiss the case.
illuminaughty1973 on June 16th, 2023 at 20:32 UTC »
Translated to non lawyer speak:
He kept asking me to do illegal shit.
I'm out.
JubalHarshaw23 on June 16th, 2023 at 18:51 UTC »
Trying to extricate himself from Crime/Fraud complications by disappearing.
RealGianath on June 16th, 2023 at 18:46 UTC »
Now he's going to take a long vacation, and hope to god Trump doesn't blurt out anything about him that ends up with his own investigation or disbarment.
And he may need to file for a little bankruptcy, I'm sure working for Trump hasn't been paying his bills.