Washington
CNN
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Timothy Parlatore, a lawyer for Donald Trump who played a key role in the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents and once testified before a grand jury, is leaving the former president’s legal team, two people told CNN sources aware of the output.
Parlatore’s departure became official on Tuesday, although it had been rumored for several weeks among the former president’s inner circle. The high-profile departure comes as special counsel Jack Smith appears to be in the final stretch of investigations into the possible mishandling of classified documents and efforts to obstruct the 2020 election.
“It has been an incredible honor to serve and work on interesting legal issues. My departure was a personal choice and does not reflect the case, as I strongly believe that the (DoJ) team is engaging in misconduct in conducting an investigation into conduct that is not criminal.” Parlatore said in a statement to CNN.
Parlatore also spoke to Trump about his departure.
Parlatore’s departure is notable as he was the lawyer who organized searches of additional classified documents last year at Trump Tower, Trump properties in Bedminster, Mar-a-Lago, an office in Palm Beach and a Florida storage unit.
He also testified before the grand jury as Trump’s team and the Justice Department became embroiled in a dispute in which the Justice Department tried unsuccessfully to hold Trump in contempt for failing to turn over all classified documents after to receive a summons in May 2022.
Parlatore appeared before the grand jury for approximately seven hours in December.
“They repeatedly tried to ask me about my conversations with President Trump, which is completely outside the scope of what I was there for,” Parlatore said in March.
Parlatore recently co-authored a letter to House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner asking Congress to tell the Justice Department to back off because they believe the intelligence community should carry out the investigation into what happened to the classified documents.
The former president’s legal team has been riddled with infighting for several months as his lawyers deal with the multiple investigations he faces amid his third bid. Trump has privately expressed his displeasure with his huge legal bills and has questioned why the investigations, namely the documents one, haven’t gone away yet.
In a town hall with CNN last week, Trump misrepresented the Presidential Records Act and claimed he was “allowed” to take documents when he left office.
“When we left Washington, we had boxes lined up on the sidewalk outside for everybody,” Trump said. “People are taking pictures of them. Everyone knew we were taking these boxes.”
Asked if he had ever shown classified documents to anyone after leaving the White House, he said: “Not really. … No, not that I can think of.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
