Joe Tacopina, an attorney who dumped former president Donald Trump as his client one day before the start of his E. Jean Carroll defamation case in New York, told MSNBC he was following his “compass.”
“I left the team because it was just my time. I had to follow my compass, and my compass told me it was my time,” Tacopina told Rev. Al Sharpton, in a clip shared by Mediaite.
Tacopina added that he left the former president’s legal team for “personal reasons” which he chose not to discuss.
On Monday Tacopina notified the court that he was withdrawing from two of Trump’s ongoing legal battles, including his criminal case for alleged hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump was charged with falsifying business records in that case and has pleaded not guilty. The case is expected to go to trial in March.
Tacopina will also no longer be representing Trump in his appeal of a $5 million verdict after a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case last year.
Trump is facing a second defamation lawsuit from Carroll. That trial is ongoing. Tacopina was not representing Trump in the second trial.
