Here is Andrew McCarthy's summary of some of the tribulations of Trump's defamation lawyer, Joe Tacopina, who resigned several days ago.
Trump often has tumultuous relationships with his legal representatives (which, as Dan McLaughlin has noted, is why he has trouble getting good representation even though his high-profile litigations would otherwise be attractive to ambitious lawyers). Tacopina is not speaking about the matter publicly, so it is unclear why he has withdrawn. I suspect, though I do not know, that it could have something to do with Trump’s public attack on Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York for denying his request to postpone the trial for a week, due to the upcoming funeral of his mother-in-law in Florida.
As I detailed throughout the first E. Jean Carroll trial — which arose out of the journalist’s claim (vehemently denied by Trump) that he sexually assaulted her many years ago, then defamed her when she went public about it — Trump often put Tacopina in difficult straits with Judge Kaplan. The “client from hell” did not show up at the trial, and did not present any defense, much less testify before the jury; but in a steady drumbeat throughout the proceedings, Trump publicly lambasted the plaintiff and the judge, despite the latter’s admonitions. As usually happens when a defendant fails to testify at a civil trial (based on which omission, the jury is permitted to draw a negative inference — unlike in a criminal trial), Trump was found liable and directed to pay $5 million in damages. Tacopina conducted an appropriately vigorous cross-examination of Carroll but could not overcome Trump’s approach to the matter.
Trump being Trump, he ranted over the weekend that the judges overseeing his civil and criminal cases are “animals.” Kaplan, in particular, he described as a “terrible, biased, irrationally angry Clinton-appointed judge” in a Saturday post on his Truth Social platform." https://www.nationalreview.com/2024...efense-lawyer-amid-murky-2024-trial-schedule/
This in a nutshell shows why Trump was unable to gain control over the DOJ and indicates that he has learned nothing since his first term.
Trump often has tumultuous relationships with his legal representatives (which, as Dan McLaughlin has noted, is why he has trouble getting good representation even though his high-profile litigations would otherwise be attractive to ambitious lawyers). Tacopina is not speaking about the matter publicly, so it is unclear why he has withdrawn. I suspect, though I do not know, that it could have something to do with Trump’s public attack on Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York for denying his request to postpone the trial for a week, due to the upcoming funeral of his mother-in-law in Florida.
As I detailed throughout the first E. Jean Carroll trial — which arose out of the journalist’s claim (vehemently denied by Trump) that he sexually assaulted her many years ago, then defamed her when she went public about it — Trump often put Tacopina in difficult straits with Judge Kaplan. The “client from hell” did not show up at the trial, and did not present any defense, much less testify before the jury; but in a steady drumbeat throughout the proceedings, Trump publicly lambasted the plaintiff and the judge, despite the latter’s admonitions. As usually happens when a defendant fails to testify at a civil trial (based on which omission, the jury is permitted to draw a negative inference — unlike in a criminal trial), Trump was found liable and directed to pay $5 million in damages. Tacopina conducted an appropriately vigorous cross-examination of Carroll but could not overcome Trump’s approach to the matter.
Trump being Trump, he ranted over the weekend that the judges overseeing his civil and criminal cases are “animals.” Kaplan, in particular, he described as a “terrible, biased, irrationally angry Clinton-appointed judge” in a Saturday post on his Truth Social platform." https://www.nationalreview.com/2024...efense-lawyer-amid-murky-2024-trial-schedule/
This in a nutshell shows why Trump was unable to gain control over the DOJ and indicates that he has learned nothing since his first term.
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