In his first interview since leaving Donald Trump’s legal team, attorney Joe Tacopina cited “personal reasons” and his “compass” as reasons behind his departure.
“I left the team because it was just my time,” he told the Rev Al Sharpton on MSNBC Saturday in what he said would be his only interview on the matter. “I had to follow my compass and my compass told me my time there was done. There are a lot of personal reasons that went into that, things that I can’t and won’t discuss.”
Tacopina represented the former president in his first trial last year against E Jean Carroll, a writer whom Trump was found liable of defaming and sexually abusing.
Last week, a day before the start of a second defamation trial involving Carroll, Tacopina said he had stopped representing Trump “on all matters”. He filed notices seeking withdrawal of his law firm from Trump’s New York criminal trial and the appeal of the verdict in the first Carroll trial.
Tacopina told MSNBC he would not elaborate on his personal reasons because “as much as I’d love to discuss them”, he has found it to be unprofessional when other former Trump attorneys have gone on to talk about and criticize the former president on TV.
Sharpton pushed him for details.
“Obviously, some things happened and your compass went a different way than what your compass was when you went in,” he said. “And you’re dealing with probably the most unhinged defendant of all time. Some lawyers say that you never wanted him to take the stand.”
“You’re not the kind of person that backed down, unless there was a reason you back down,” added Sharpton, who has known Tacopina for years.
“And there’s a reason,” Tacopina replied, “and I have to leave it at that.”
Later in the interview, he said it was “absolutely” possible that Trump could be convicted in one of the four criminal cases against him.
Watch the interview below via MSNBC.