A conflict within former President Donald J. Trump’s legal team erupted into public view on Saturday when one of his former lawyers went on television to attack one of his current lawyers, who has been the focus of the ire of other team members.
The former lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, withdrew last week from representing Mr. Trump in the special counsel’s investigations into his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. But Mr. . Parlatore did not explain the reasons for his departure at the time, saying only that it was not related to the merits of the inquiries.
Appearing on CNN on Saturday, Mr. Parlatore revealed that his departure had been spurred by irreconcilable differences with Boris Epshteyn, another lawyer who has been working as the former president’s in-house counsel, hiring lawyers and coordinating his efforts to defend Mr. Trump.
Mr. Parlatore described how Mr. Epshteyn had prevented him and other lawyers from getting information to Mr. Trump, leaving the former president’s legal team at a disadvantage in dealing with the Justice Department, which is scrutinizing Mr. Trump from classified documents after leaving. and his efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 election.
“As I said at the time, it had nothing to do with the case itself or the client,” Mr. talker “There are certain people who made defending the president much more difficult than it had to be.”
He named Mr. Epshteyn in particular.
“He did everything he could to try to block us,” said Mr. Parlatore, adding that “it’s hard enough to fight the DOJ,” but when colleagues are “trying to undermine you, block you, he did it.” so I can’t do what I need to do as a lawyer “.
“Ultimately, it was not in the best interest of the client,” he said, adding that Mr. Epshteyn “wasn’t very honest with us or the client” about certain things.
Above all, Mr. Parlatore noted that Mr. Epshteyn was trying to prevent the team from conducting additional searches of Mr. Trump after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, the private club and residence of Mr. Trump in Florida. and discovered more than 100 additional classified documents.
Mr. Parlatore also mocked the limited legal experience of Mr. Epshteyn, saying that he spent 18 months as a corporate lawyer and that, based on that experience, he “knows better than all of us.”
Even so, Mr. Parlatore left open the possibility of returning to Mr. Trump if certain changes were made.
“If lawyers are allowed to be lawyers without the obstruction of people like Boris Epshteyn,” he said, “I’d be happy to come back.”
A spokesman for Mr. Trump said: “Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements about the current members of the legal team are baseless and categorically false.”
Before making his appearance on television, Mr. Parlatore spoke with Mr. Trump and told him that the handling of Mr. Epshteyn on the defense team increased the risk that federal prosecutors would bring charges, according to two people familiar with the matter.
That warning came after an earlier attempt by several Trump lawyers to intervene with their client over the involvement of Mr. Epstein. The lawyers cited what they described as Mr. Epshteyn’s penchant for delivering good news despite dire circumstances, as well as a bottleneck he had created in talking to Mr. Trump about cases.
News of the rift between lawyers representing Mr. Trump comes at a particularly sensitive time, just as Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith appears to be wrapping up his grand jury investigations and nearing a decision on whether to file charges against Mr. Trump in the cases of documents and electoral interference.
With the disappearance of Mr. Parlatore, two other lawyers, James Trusty and John Rowley, have taken the lead in representing Mr. Trump on the special counsel’s inquiries.
Mr. Rowley on Saturday declined to comment on Mr. talker Mr. Trusty did not respond to efforts to reach him for comment.
Mr Trump also faces a number of other legal problems, including his indictment in a hush money case in New York and a pending investigation in Georgia into election interference.
The former president also appeared on CNN on May 10, refusing to give a straight answer at a town hall event when asked if he had ever shown classified documents to anyone after leaving office.
Mr. Parlatore tried to clarify that issue on Saturday, saying that Mr. Trump had “no evidence to suggest that he showed classified documents to anyone.”
He added that he did not believe charges would ultimately be filed in the document investigation.
