Former President Donald Trump has assigned former U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche to defend him against criminal charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, confirmed on Monday that Blanche has joined the defense team, and Trump is expected to face a New York state court for the first time on the charges.
“There is no lead lawyer. See you tomorrow in court,” Takubina told reporters when asked about the lead lawyer.
Blanche was recently a partner at the law firm Cadwalader but told his partners he was leaving the law firm to represent Donald Trump in the Prague case, according to Politico, which reported on the hiring process. Blanche did not immediately return a call or text seeking comment.
Blanche represented Paul Manafort, the former chairman of the Trump campaign in 2016, in a case brought by Bragg’s predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr. for mortgage fraud and other crimes.
Vance filed suit pending a Trump pardon for Manafort for his federal conviction of financial crimes and illegal lobbying. Trump granted Manafort a pardon in December 2020, which only covers federal crimes.
Blanche received a final dismissal of the Manafort case in February 2021 by an appeals court, and that court agreed with the lower courts, which ruled that the Vance case was so similar to a federal case that it was barred by the so-called dual trial law. prohibits a person from being tried twice in the same criminal case.
“As we’ve been saying since the Attorney General announced the charges against Manafort, this case should never have been brought because the removal of the indictment is a clear violation of New York law,” Blanche wrote in an email at the time.
Source: Bloomberg.