James Trusty, former attorney for Donald Trump, appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington, D.C., April 9, 2023.
William B. Plowman: Nbc | Getty Images
Two lawyers who represented Donald Trump in the months before the former president was indicted on federal charges over his handling of classified documents quit working for him Friday morning.
The attorneys, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, did not explain in detail why they had resigned, other than to say in a joint statement that “this is a logical moment” to do so given his indictment Thursday in U.S. District Court in Miami.
Trusty and Rowley also said they will no longer represent Trump in a pending federal criminal probe into his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
Trusty had made multiple appearances on television news shows Thursday evening and Friday morning to discuss the indictment of Trump in his capacity as his lawyer.
Follow our live coverage of Donald Trump’s indictment in the classified documents case.
Trump first announced the two lawyers were leaving his cases in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He said he would now be represented by Todd Blanche, a New York lawyer who is representing him in another criminal case in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Trump is charged there in a state grand jury indictment with falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
“We will be announcing additional lawyers in the coming days,” wrote Trump, who is due to appear Tuesday in Miami court on the indictment charging him with several crimes.
Blanche did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Trump is charged over his retention of hundreds of classified government documents at his residence at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, after he left the White House, as well as with obstruction for his failure to return those records in the face of demands from U.S. officials.
In a joint statement, Trusty and Rowley wrote: “This morning we tendered our resignations as counsel to President Trump, and we will no longer represent him on either the indicted case or the January 6 investigation.”
“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 attorneys said.
“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,” they wrote. “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.
