James Trusty, attorney for Donald Trump, appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington, D.C., April 9, 2023.
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An attorney who quit the team defending Donald Trump within the criminal classified documents case said Friday he would not represent the previous president in a separate defamation lawsuit against CNN.
The lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a court filing that his request to withdraw from the $475 million civil suit “is predicated upon irreconcilable differences” with Trump.
“Counsel can not effectively and properly represent Plaintiff,” Trusty wrote within the filing in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Neither Trusty nor lawyers for CNN immediately responded to requests for comment on Trusty’s move to withdraw as Trump’s counsel.
Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s remaining attorney within the defamation case, referred CNBC to the previous president’s spokesman Steven Cheung, who said the defamation suit is “entering a recent phase as more irrefutable facts are revealed.”
“We thank Mr. Trusty for his work on this case and need him all the most effective,” Cheung said.
Every week earlier, Trusty and one other lawyer, John Rowley, tendered their resignations as Trump’s counsel within the federal criminal case that had just resulted in his indictment on charges related to his post-presidency efforts to maintain a raft of classified documents at his resort home Mar-a-Lago.
“Now that the case has been filed in Miami, it is a logical moment for us to step aside and let others carry the cases through to completion,” Trusty and Rowley said in that statement.
4 days later, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts including retaining national defense records, concealing documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The attorneys’ statement also noted they’d not defend Trump in one other ongoing federal criminal investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith oversaw each probes.
They bear little resemblance to Trump’s civil defamation suit against CNN, which was filed in October.
Trump, who has an extended track record of attacking media outlets and specific reporters over coverage he dislikes, accused CNN of running a “smear campaign” against him, including by comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
The lawsuit homed in on CNN’s frequent invocation of the Big Lie, a term used to seek advice from quite a lot of false claims of election fraud Trump and his allies have peddled as they claim President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was rigged.
“The ‘Big Lie’ is a direct reference to a tactic employed by Adolf Hitler and appearing in Hitler’s Mein Kampf,” asserted the grievance from Trump’s legal team, which on the time included Trusty.
CNN in November asked the court to dismiss the case, calling Trump’s claims “untenable and repugnant to a free press and open political debate.”
The outlet noted Trump’s lawsuit hinges on just five CNN pieces. It argued that none of them suggest he “has the character of Hitler.”
Trump’s grievance suggested CNN was defaming him to undermine his potential candidacy in the subsequent presidential election. Trump launched his 2024 campaign the subsequent month, and he has consistently led the Republican primary field within the polls.
Trump seeks $475 million in punitive damages and greater than $75,000 in compensatory damages.
