- Donald Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina announced Monday he was quitting the ex-president's legal team.
- Trump is expected to go to trial for his New York hush-money case in March.
Joe Tacopina, a defense lawyer for former President Donald Trump who is known for representing famous clients, has withdrawn from two of Trump's major legal battles, including his Manhattan trial involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Tacopina filed a notice to the court on Monday requesting that his firm, Tacopina Seigel & Deoreo, leave its role as Trump's legal counsel in the hush-money case.
He also wrote to Judge Lewis Kaplan saying he would no longer represent Trump in his appeal against the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom the former president has been ordered to pay $5 million.
"I withdrew on all matters," Tacopina told ABC News.
Multiple outlets reaching out to Tacopina reported that he declined to say why he parted ways with Trump.
The former president faces four criminal indictments, one of which is the hush-money case in New York.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to hide payments to Daniels right before the 2016 election, and the case is expected to go to trial in March.
Susan Necheles is Trump's lead lawyer in the case, but Tacopina took point with the media, making the rounds on primetime TV to defend the former president. Todd Blanche is another lawyer on the defense team.
Tacopina also represented Trump in Carroll's civil lawsuit against the former president, in which she accused him of raping her in the 1990s and then defaming her in 2022 when denying the sexual-assault allegations.
Trump was found liable, and a jury ordered him to pay Carroll $5 million in damages. Until Monday, Tacopina had continued to represent Trump in his appeal against the verdict.
Trump is facing another defamation lawsuit from Carroll, set to go to trial in Manhattan on Tuesday. But Tacopina isn't representing Trump in this second case, with the former president instead fielding Alina Habba and Michael Madaio as his attorneys.
Tacopina was one of the key players on Trump's legal team, with a list of high-profile trial victories under his belt. His clients have included the Fox News host Sean Hannity, the rapper ASAP Rocky, the pop legend Michael Jackson, and the former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
Some clients have publicly lavished him with praise. Hannity, for example, was quoted by The New York Times as saying Tacopina was one of the "greatest defense attorneys of all time."
In a statement reported by various outlets, Trump's spokesperson Steven Cheung didn't address Tacopina's departure on Monday but said the former president "has the most experienced, qualified, disciplined, and overall strongest legal team ever assembled as he continues to fight for America and Americans against these partisan, Crooked Joe Biden-led election interference hoaxes."
Tacopina isn't the first lawyer to quit Trump's team amid the former president's legal battles. In June, the lawyers Jim Trusty and John Rowley said they'd stop representing Trump in his indictment over his handling of classified documents.
Representatives for Trump and Tacopina Seigel & Deoreo didn't immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.