Tacopina on new charges in classified documents case: ‘The weaponization of the justice system is in full throttle’

One of former President Trump’s lawyers in a separate case said Friday that new charges against the former president represent a “two-tiered” justice system.

“What you see here is what I’ve been saying, a two-tiered system of justice,” attorney Joe Tacopina said in a Fox News interview. 

“They are starting to understand that the weaponization of the justice system is in full throttle right now.”

Federal special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on three additional charges this week in his classified documents case, stemming from allegations that Trump attempted to hide classified documents at his Florida home after he left the White House.

Tacopina does not represent Trump in the classified documents case, but does represent Trump in a separate criminal trial in New York over alleged hush money payments made to cover a past affair. He also represented Trump in a civil trial from writer E. Jean Carroll, who filed a defamation lawsuit against the former president after he called her a liar in reference to a prior case, where she alleged he sexually abused her in the 1990s. Carroll won a $5 million judgement.

Tacopina compared Trump’s classified documents case to documents investigations into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Biden, saying their wrongdoing was just as bad and did not result in criminal charges.

Clinton was accused of mishandling government information on an email server while she was Secretary of State. A multi-month FBI investigation resulted in no charges in 2016. Biden admitted to finding classified documents from his time as vice president at his home and office earlier this year.

“They think the more they pile on, the more they attack him, the less likely it is he is going to become our president. It’s having the opposite effect because the people of our country are not stupid,” he said.

“The American people should decide who the next president is, not a Democratic-appointed prosecutor or a Justice Department serving at the whim of a president.”

Trump is also facing a second Smith investigation over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. A target letter and recent attorney meetings signal that an additional indictment in that case could come soon.

He leads GOP primary polls by a wide margin, claiming about 52 percent of support according to recent national polling averages.