Joe Tacopina, a lawyer who previously represented former President Donald Trump, recently gave his first interview since leaving Trump’s legal team on the eve of the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In the interview with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC, Tacopina explained his departure, stating, “I left the team because it was just my time. I had to follow my compass, and my compass told me it was my time.”
Tacopina described his departure as being due to “personal reasons,” although he chose not to go into further detail.
Unlike some of Trump’s other former attorneys who have publicly criticized the former president and his legal team, Tacopina maintained a professional stance. He expressed his belief that it is not appropriate or professional for lawyers to speak negatively about their former clients after leaving their team, calling such behavior “petty” and indicating “a lack of confidence” in oneself.
During the interview, Rev. Sharpton pressed Tacopina for more information about the specific reasons behind his departure. Tacopina deflected the question with a joke, complimenting Rev. Sharpton on his jacket. He simply stated that there were things that didn’t work out for him.
Rev. Sharpton acknowledged Tacopina’s professional approach but suggested that Trump may have negative things to say about him after the interview. Tacopina responded by saying, “That’s okay. That’s part of the playbook.”
Although Tacopina refrained from criticizing Trump directly, he did offer candid assessments of some of his previous criminal cases during the interview.
“Look, do I think there’s a political bent to some of this, some of the way this was gone about? Yes, I do,” he explained.
“Do I think these cases are invalid cases? Look, the grand jury voted to indict, and he’s going to have to face a jury in Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia and New York City,” Tacopina continued. “And I’d say maybe three of those venues are not particularly big Trump venues, right? New York City, Washington D.C., and Atlanta.”
“So that’s going to be something to really have to grapple with there. And you can’t say there’s no way he’ll get convicted”
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Trump currently faces 91 criminal charges across all four indictments against him. These include charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, conspiracy against civil rights, obstruction, withholding and altering documents, false statements and falsifying business records.
If he is found guilty of every charge against him, he could face up to over 300 years in prison.
