Two of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers resigned after he was indicted Thursday in Florida. Attorneys Jim Trusty and John Rowley said in a statement they will no longer represent him in the criminal case related to sensitive documents recovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after Trump left the White House, nor will they represent him in the Jan. 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,” Trusty and Rowley said in a 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.”
The pair said they “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.”
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said he will now be represented by attorney Todd Blanche “and a firm to be named later.” Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, is also representing Trump in the criminal case brought against him in New York related to hush money payments.
Trump thanked Trusty and Rowley for their work, adding that “they were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil, and ‘sick’ group of people, the likes of which has not been seen before.”
On Friday, the 37-count indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida was unsealed. The indictment, which names former aide Walt Nauta as an alleged co-conspirator, alleges the former president “endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal retention of classified documents.”
In the Jan. 6 case, a grand jury is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In December, the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob breached the Capitol, released its report recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his conduct related to the insurrection. The committee’s 18-month-long investigation included several public hearings with dramatic testimony from several people in Trump’s circle.
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