A law firm that has long defended donald trumpThe campaign and employment litigation firms abruptly called for the withdrawal of a years-long case due to what it calls an “irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
The firm – LaRocca, Hornik, Greenberg, Rosen, Kittridge, Carlin and McPartland – has represented Trump’s political operation in several lawsuits dating back to his first presidential run, helping to secure numerous settlements and firings and making nearly $3 million in the process. .
But on Friday, he asked a federal judge to allow him to drop a lawsuit filed by a former campaign surrogate, AJ Delgado, who claims she was sidelined by the campaign in 2016 after revealing she was pregnant. The timing of the motion was notable, just two days after the same federal court ordered the campaign to turn over for discovery all complaints of sexual harassment and gender or pregnancy discrimination from the 2016 and 2020 campaigns — material the defendants have long resisted. in delivering. about.
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In the request, filed in Manhattan federal court, lead attorney Jared Blumetti did not provide details about the dispute, asking for permission to “explain” the matter privately with the judge. Blumetti did not respond to a request for comment.
The apparent break with a long-trusted company comes at a busy time, legally speaking, for the former president.
He is in the third week of a criminal trial in a 2016 campaign sex scandal cover-up case involving porn star Stormy Daniels, and faces additional criminal charges in Georgia as well as two separate sets of federal charges. Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether Trump is absolutely immune from criminal charges for actions he took while in the White House. And he is appealing judgments totaling more than $500 million in two civil verdicts last year.
It was not immediately clear whether LaRocca Hornik, who has offices at 40 Wall St., a midtown Manhattan building owned by Trump, intends to cut all ties with him. But such a rupture would hardly be new. In January, one of Trump’s defense lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said he would no longer represent him. Last year, at least four of his other lawyers, who represented him in several civil and criminal cases, stepped aside.
Delgado, who is representing himself in the matter, opposed the withdrawal in a filing Monday, arguing that it should not be allowed until the discovery process is completed and calling the request a “scheme to avoid compliance.”
Judge Katharine H. Parker said LaRocca Hornik would have to continue to represent the campaign for now and that she would schedule a conference with the law firm and the campaign to discuss the matter.
The company has represented Trump’s business interests for at least a decade, defending Trump Model Management in a salary lawsuit filed in 2014, for example. He also represented the campaign in both of Trump’s previous runs for the White House and received $1.8 million between September 2016 and December 2020, Federal Election Commission records show. Since then, the former president’s super political action committee, Make America Great Again Inc., has paid LaRocca Hornik an additional $990,000, including a payment of $15,103.90 on March 25.
In addition to the case filed by Delgado, the company also represents the campaign in a discrimination and sexual abuse lawsuit filed by Jessica Denson, former Hispanic outreach coordinator for the 2016 campaign. York, was made on April 16 and makes no mention of the desire to end the legal relationship.
Last year, the company helped the Trump campaign negotiate a $450,000 settlement in a separate lawsuit brought by Denson challenging the validity of confidentiality agreements that campaign workers were forced to sign during the 2016 election race.
And in 2022, he helped negotiate a settlement in a lawsuit brought by protesters who alleged that Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, in 2015 tore down a sign that read “Trump: Make America Racist Again” and then hit one of them in the head.
Delgado filed her lawsuit against the campaign, as well as former advisors Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer, in 2019, alleging sexual and pregnancy discrimination.
While working for the campaign, she became pregnant by her supervisor, Jason Miller, a senior communications consultant and spokesperson. When she revealed her pregnancy shortly after the 2016 election, according to her complaint, she was relieved of most of her duties and “immediately and inexplicably stopped receiving emails and other communications.”
As part of the litigation, she has pursued all other allegations of gender discrimination involving the campaign.
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