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An attorney who left the team defending Donald Trump in a classified documents case said Friday he would no longer represent the former president in a separate libel suit against CNN.
Lawyer Jim Trusty told the court that his request to drop the $475 million civil lawsuit “is based on irreconcilable differences” with Trump.
“The attorney can no longer effectively and properly represent the plaintiff,” Trusty wrote in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Neither Trusty nor CNN’s lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment on Trusty’s withdrawal as an adviser to Trump.
Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s remaining defamation attorney, referred CNBC to the former president’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, who said the defamation lawsuit “enters a new phase as more indisputable facts come to light.”
“We thank Mr Trusty for his work on this case and wish him all the best,” Cheung said.
A week earlier, Trusty and another lawyer, John Rowley, had resigned as Trump’s defense attorney in a federal criminal case that had just led to his indictment on charges related to his efforts to keep a number of classified documents at his resort. Mar-a-Lago.
“Now that the case has been filed in Miami, it is a logical time for us to step aside and let others bring matters to a close,” Trusty and Rowley said in a statement.
Four days later, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts, including storing national defense records, concealing documents, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The attorneys’ statement also noted that they would no longer defend Trump in another ongoing federal criminal investigation into the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots. U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith oversaw both probes.
They bear little resemblance to Trump’s civil libel suit against CNN, which was filed in October.
Trump, who has a long history of attacking the media and specific reporters for coverage he dislikes, accused CNN of waging a “smear campaign” against him, including comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
The lawsuit was based on CNN’s frequent invocation of the Big Lie, a term used to refer to various false claims of election fraud that Trump and his allies were selling, claiming that President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was falsified.
The “big lie” is a direct reference to a tactic used by Adolf Hitler and featured in Hitler’s Mein Kampf,” claimed Trump’s legal team, which at the time included the Trusts.
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 that Trump’s lawsuit is based on just five CNN articles. He claimed that none of them suggested that he “had the character of Hitler”.
Trump’s complaint suggested that CNN was defaming him to undermine his potential candidacy in the next presidential election. The following month, Trump launched his 2024 campaign and consistently leads Republicans in the polls.
Trump is seeking $475 million in punitive damages and more than $75,000 in compensatory damages.