Top Lawyers Resign, Case Assigned to Trump-Appointed Judge: The Latest on the Indictment of Donald Trump

Two lawyers for Donald Trump left his legal team on Friday, less than a day after the former president was indicted by a federal grand jury on criminal charges related to his retention of classified materials after he left office.

News of the moves was only one bullet point in a cascade of notable developments in the hours since Trump revealed the indictment on Thursday evening. A loyal Trump aide was also indicted in the case, which was reported Friday to have been assigned to a judge appointed by the former president, and who has ruled favorable and controversially for the former president in the past.

Trump lawyers James Trusty and John Rowley resigned Friday, according to a statement released by the pair. Just Thursday evening, Trusty was defending Trump during an appearance on CNN.

It has been an honor to have spent the last year defending him, and we know that he will be vindicated in his battles against the Biden Administrations partisan weaponization of the American justice system, Trusty and Rowley said in the 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.