(Scypre.com) – Former President Donald Trump and his two lead attorneys, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, have officially parted ways after Trump’s recent indictment in the investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Trump, who is currently a front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, faces charges including obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and illegal retention of classified government material. He has been summoned to appear in federal court in Miami next Tuesday, although the details of the indictment remain undisclosed.
In a joint statement, Trusty and Rowley announced their resignation as Trump’s legal counsel for both the ongoing indictment and the investigation into the events of January 6th. They expressed gratitude for the opportunity to defend Trump over the past year, asserting their belief in his eventual vindication against what they perceive as the Biden Administration’s partisan manipulation of the American justice system. The departing attorneys also clarified that they have no intention of publicly discussing their withdrawal or any confidential communications they had with Trump or his legal team.
Trump took to his social media platform, TRUTH Social, to inform his followers that he will be hiring a new attorney, Todd Blanche, to combat what he describes as the “Greatest Witch Hunt of all time.” Trump acknowledged the efforts of Trusty and Rowley but accused his adversaries of being deceitful, corrupt, and malevolent. He also hinted at further additions to his legal team in the days to come, while raising questions about when President Joe Biden would face indictment for alleged crimes against the nation.
Blanche, a former partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, is not only joining Trump’s defense in the current case but is also representing him against charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Blanche’s previous experience includes representing Paul Manafort, who faced charges related to foreign lobbying, witness tampering, tax fraud, and conspiracy as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in 2019.
This development in Trump’s legal representation follows his public announcement of the indictment in Smith’s probe on Thursday night. The investigation, initiated by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022, focuses on allegations of Trump’s improper retention of classified records at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. The Justice Department launched its inquiry after an unprecedented raid by the FBI on Trump’s private residence in August 2022.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had informed Congress earlier that year that Trump had taken 15 boxes of presidential records to his personal Florida residence, with NARA subsequently recovering those boxes from Mar-a-Lago. The recovered materials reportedly included classified national security information and official correspondence between Trump and foreign leaders, such as a letter from former President Barack Obama and a communication from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump has maintained that the documents were not “found” but rather given to him upon request, asserting his cooperation with investigators and disputing the necessity of the raid. However, an affidavit in support of the raid revealed that the FBI had established the presence of documents marked with classification indicators, potentially containing national defense information, among the materials initially turned over to NARA.
The FBI justified the search of Mar-a-Lago based on the belief that additional records containing classified information, including national defense details, would be located there. The government cited violations of federal laws, including gathering or transmitting defense information, concealing or removing records, and destruction or falsification of records in federal investigations.
The allegation of “gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information” falls under the Espionage Act.