Trump loses key player on Mar-a-Lago legal team

Former President Trump is losing a key member of his legal team on the Mar-a-Lago case, with attorney Timothy Parlatore departing as special counsel Jack Smith nears the finish line of his investigation.

Parlatore, who has been working the case with three other attorneys, said he spoke with Trump on Tuesday to inform him of his decision to leave.

“It’s just something that had to happen. It’s not directly case related,” Parlatore told The Hill. “It’s personal reasons that I’m not going to get into right now.”

CNN first broke the news of Parlatore’s departure.

Parlatore has been a vocal defender of the former president, including spearheading a letter to congressional intelligence committee leaders asking for reform processes for the investigations of the mishandling of classified documents, making them civil matters rather than criminal ones.

He also organized a subsequent search of Trump properties in New Jersey, New York and Florida to ensure there were no additional classified records among the former president’s belongings.

Parlatore has appeared before the grand jury Smith assembled in the case, answering hours of questions about the matter in December, according to CNN.

The Mar-a-Lago case has had other notable departures, including Trump attorney Evan Corcoran.

Corcoran remains on the legal team for the Jan. 6 investigation but removed himself from the Mar-a-Lago case after a judge waived Trump’s attorney-client protections and forced Corcoran to testify on the matter.

Attorney-client privilege can be pierced if a judge determines legal advice may have been given in furtherance of a crime, with ABC News reporting the sealed order discussed that Trump may have misled Corcoran about some details in the case.

Parlatore said he believes the Justice Department will decide not to pursue charges against Trump in the Mar-a-Lago case but added that Smith appears to be winding down interviews before the grand jury.

“I think that they’re just about done with all the grand jury witnesses at this point. And moving into the report writing phase,” he said. 

“I think that they’re going to spend the next month writing up a several-hundred-page report …and present it to [Attorney General Merrick Garland in the] beginning of June.”