Trump Adds White Collar Lawyer Todd Blanche To Defense Team As Tacopina Denies He’s Been ‘Sidelined’

Topline

White collar criminal lawyer Todd Blanche is joining Trump’s legal team ahead of his arraignment Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court, amid reports that Blanche is “sidelining” self-described “bombastic” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina.

Todd Blanche speaks to the press in Manhattan on June 27, 2019. (Photo by Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu … [+] Agency/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Blanche will appear alongside Trump at his arraignment on Tuesday, Tacopina told Forbes, while denying a report from CNN that Blanche is “sidelining” him.

“Of course I haven’t!” Tacopina said when asked whether he’d been sidelined, adding “be sure when the bell rings . . . I will be doing the major crosses and summations.”

Blanche, a former federal prosecutor for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, previously represented Trump ally Paul Manafort and Rudy Giluiani associate Igor Fruman.

Blanche resigned from his job at white-shoe Manhattan law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to become Trump’s lead counsel, Politico reported Monday.

Key Background

Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted last week when a Manhattan grand jury voted to bring charges against him in connection to hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about their alleged 2006 affair. Trump, who has denied the affair and any wrongdoing in connection to the deal, departed Mar-A-Lago for Manhattan on Monday ahead of his Tuesday arraignment in Manhattan criminal court. The indictment is under seal and the charges have yet to be made public, but Trump is reportedly facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud, including at least one felony.

Tangent

Tacopina, a veteran Manhattan criminal lawyer who has a history of representing high-profile clients, has been front and center in the media defending Trump, consistent with his self-described “bombastic” style. He has faced allegations of a potential conflict of interest in the case related to his ties to Daniels, who once inquired with Tacopina’s office about representing her. Legal experts have said the New York and American Bar Associations’ rules of professional conduct prohibit lawyers from representing clients in cases that could have an adverse impact on a former prospective client “if the lawyer received information from the prospective client that could be significantly harmful,” according to the ABA standards. Tacopina denied there is any conflict and told Forbes he never met or spoke with Daniels. Daniels’ lawyers responded to the denial by providing records of communications between her and Tacopina to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, CNN reported, raising speculation that a judge could ask Tacopina to step away from the case.

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