Full List of Donald Trump Lawyers Who Have Left Since 2020 Election Loss

Donald Trump faces an ever-changing roster of lawyers representing him amid ongoing legal difficulties for the former president.

For more than three years, multiple attorneys have announced they will no longer be working with Trump in cases such as his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, the federal classified documents and January 6 investigations, and other criminal inquiries involving Trump in New York and Georgia. The former president has pleaded not guilty to charges across all four criminal cases.

Trump's difficulty retaining lawyers continued on Monday after it was confirmed that Joe Tacopina would no longer be representing the former president in the trial where Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York. Tacopina also withdrew from the appeal over a May 2023 civil trial ruling in which a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll, then defaming her character while denying the assault took place.

It is unclear why Tacopina decided to withdraw from the cases. Tacopina's office has been contacted for comment via email.

Reacting to the news, Michael Cohen, former Trump attorney turned frequent critic of the former president, told Newsweek: "Finding competent counsel has plagued Donald for many years now due to his erratic legal requests and delinquent payment history.

"The cases coming to fruition are all significant and require expertise in handling by legitimate attorneys, not small-claims litigators or parking lot attorneys. Donald's outcome remains bleak."

Below, Newsweek has compiled a list of Trump's lawyers who have stopped representing him across his numerous legal battles since his alleged attempts to overturn the last presidential election results in November 2020.

Joe Tacopina, Chad Seigel, and Matthew DeOreo

On Monday, Tacopina, a criminal defense lawyer who has represented many celebrities and high-profile figures, and his two partners announced they are no longer representing Trump in the alleged falsification of business records trial in New York.

"I respectfully submit this Declaration in support of [Tacopina, Seigel and DeOreo's] motion, made pursuant to Local Civil Rule 27.1, to withdraw as counsel (including TSD attorneys Joseph Tacopina, Chad D. Seigel and Matthew G. DeOreo) for Trump, with such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper," Tacopina wrote in the filing.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to allegations he instructed his then lawyer Michael Cohen to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep an alleged affair she and Trump had a secret ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump then logged the reimbursements in Trump Organization filings as legal expenses. The trial in the case is scheduled to take place in March.

Drew Findling

The Georgia attorney, who uses the #BillionDollarLawyer tag on Instagram, is another former Trump attorney who is known for representing celebrities, including numerous rappers.

Findling stepped away from Trump's legal team in the Georgia election interference case, where the former president pleaded not guilty to 13 charges, just hours before he surrendered to authorities in Fulton County in August 2023.

Jim Trusty and John Rowley

The pair announced in June 2023 that they will no longer be representing Trump in either the classified documents case, where Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 charges, or the federal investigation where Trump has pleaded not guilty to four counts over his alleged criminal attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trusty and Rowley did not give a reason for their departure, which took place hours after the classified documents indictment against Trump was unsealed, beyond stating it was the "logical moment" for them to step away.

"It has been an honor to have spent the last year defending him, and we know he will be vindicated in his battle against the Biden Administration's partisan weaponization of the American justice system," Trusty and Rowley wrote in a statement. "Now that the case has been filed in Miami, this is a logical moment for us to step aside and let others carry the cases through to completion."

The same month, Trusty said he could no longer be Trump's lawyer in a defamation lawsuit the former president had filed against CNN, saying in court filings that Trusty said "irreconcilable differences" between him and the former president prevented him from "effectively and properly" representing him.

Tim Parlatore

Parlatore quit representing Trump in the federal investigation over allegations the former president illegally retained sensitive and secret materials after he left the White House in January 2021, and then obstructed the federal attempt to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The lawyer told CNN in May 2023 that he left Trump's team because there were "certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be," including longtime Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn. "It had nothing to do with the case itself or the client."

Rudy Giuliani

Trump cut all official ties with the former New York mayor in February 2021.

Giuliani played a key role in Trump's failed bid to overturn the 2020 election results and was indicted alongside the former president and 17 others under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' Georgia probe.

Nearly three years ago, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Giuliani is not working with Trump in any legal matters, adding: "Simply that there are no pending cases where Mayor Giuliani is representing the President. The Mayor remains an ally and a friend."

Sidney Powell

In November 2020, Trump fired the election conspiracy theorist and QAnon advocate after she pushed baseless voter fraud claims.

Powell pleaded guilty in October 2023 to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit interference with election duties. She was also indicted in the Georgia case along with Trump.

Linda Kerns, John Scott, and Douglas Bryan Hughes

In November 2020, three Trump attorneys said they would be withdrawing from Trump's alleged attempts to block Pennsylvania from certifying its election results via the courts.

While filing a motion to withdraw from the case, Kerns, Scott and Hughes said Trump "will be best served" if they left the case.

The same month, lawyers at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur also confirmed in a statement they would be withdrawing from the Pennsylvania election lawsuit.