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- Donald Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, announced on Monday he's quitting the ex-president's legal team.
- His departure comes as Trump's expected to go to trial for the New York hush money case in March.
- Tacopina, a star player on Trump's team, has declined to say why he left.
Joe Tacopina, a defense lawyer for former President Donald Trump who's known for representing famous clients, has withdrawn from two of Trump's major legal battles, including his Manhattan trial involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.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He also wrote to Judge Lewis Kaplan saying he would no longer represent Trump in the latter's appeal against writer E. Jean Carroll, whom the former president has been ordered to pay $5 million.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's declined to say why he parted ways with Trump.
Tacopina's departure comes as 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. Attorney Todd Blanche is also 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 $5 million in damages. Until Monday, Tacopina had continued to represent Trump in his appeal against the verdict.
His departure comes just before Trump faces another defamation lawsuit from Carroll set to go to trial in Manhattan on Tuesday. However, Tacopina is not representing Trump in this second case, with the former president instead fielding Alina Habba and Michael Madaio as his attorneys.
Tacopina was one of the key players on Trump's legal team, with a list of high-profile trial victories under his belt. His clients included Fox News host Sean Hannity, the rapper A$AP Rocky, pop legend Michael Jackson, and former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
Some clients have publicly lavished him with praise. Hannity, for example, called Tacopina one of the "greatest defense attorneys of all time," per The New York Times.
In a statement reported by various media, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung did not 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, Attorneys Jim Trusty and John Rowley said they would stop representing Trump in his indictment over his handling of classified documents.
Representatives for Trump and Tacopina Siegel & Deoreo did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.