Former President Donald Trump said Friday he is shaking up his legal team as he fights a seven-count indictment in Florida, replacing two lawyers who worked on his classified documents case with a lawyer representing him in a New York matter.
Mr. Trump, on his Truth Social platform, said he will be represented by attorney Todd Blanche and a firm “to be named later” as he prepares to answer the charges Tuesday in Miami.
Mr. Blanche appeared on Mr. Trump’s behalf at an April arraignment in Manhattan on unrelated charges of falsifying business records.
Off the team are Jim Trusty and John Rowley, key figures in Mr. Trump’s defense against a probe into classified documents found at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate and efforts to return them to the National Archives.
CBS News late Thursday reported that Mr. Trump was frustrated by “too much happy talk for too long” about what could happen in the documents probe headed by special counsel Jack Smith.
However, Mr. Trump faulted prosecutors and political forces.
DOCUMENT: United States v. Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta
“I want to thank Jim Trusty and John Rowley for their work, but they were up against a very dishonest, corrupt, evil and ‘sick’ group of people, the likes of which has not been seen before,” Mr. Trump wrote. “We will be announcing additional lawyers in the coming days.”
News reports Friday said U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, will oversee the case, at least initially.
Judge Cannon made headlines early in the documents probe when she froze part of the Justice Department’s investigation to let a special master review the files seized from Mar-a-Lago. Her decision was overturned by an appeals court panel.
Mr. Trump says the federal charges in Florida are part of a broad witch hunt designed to thwart his 2024 campaign.
He says the Justice Department should focus equal attention on Mr. Biden and the classified documents found among materials at a Washington think tank used by Mr. Biden and the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
“When will Joe Biden be indicted for his many crimes against our nation?” Mr. Trump wrote.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.