While the search for more attorneys to join Donald Trump’s legal team continues in Florida, his attorney Todd Blanche, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer, is expected to appear with the former president in court Tuesday, a Trump adviser tells CNN.
Trump’s team spoke with a number of lawyers over the weekend, but it’s unclear as of now who the former president will formally hire to represent him in Florida, sources close to the process tell CNN.
Trump’s team has been reaching out to Florida-based attorneys and firms to gauge their interest in joining them, sources tell CNN. Some Florida lawyers also are reaching out to the Trump team to express interest.
Miami-based attorney Chris Kise, the former Florida solicitor general who was previously sidelined in the dispute arising from a third-party special master review of evidence seized from Mar-a-Lago, is part of this reach-out effort. It’s unclear if Kise will appear with Trump in court Tuesday as well.
Trump needs a lawyer who is admitted to practice law in the southern district of Florida for the arraignment. Lindsey Halligan, another member of his legal team, is licensed in Florida and has worked alongside out-of-state lawyers on other legal matters for Trump on this case.
Trump has had difficulties retaining seasoned attorneys as he faces an increasingly complicated web of legal troubles, and some firms are reluctant to take on Trump as a client because of concerns about reputational impacts and alienating other clients.
On Friday, in a significant shakeup of Trump’s legal team, his top attorneys Jim Trusty and John Rowley resigned, and Trump announced the addition of Blanche to the classified documents case. Blanche had been hired in April after Trump was indicted in Manhattan and appeared with him during his arraignment on charges stemming from the hush money scheme.
Trump is expected to travel to Miami Monday to meet with his lawyers ahead of his arraignment on 37 counts related to alleged mishandling of classified documents and national security secrets.
