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Trump’s New York lawyers are latest in long, troubled line

By Jacqueline Thomsen

(Reuters) – Representing Donald Trump, who is now under indictment in New York, is no easy job. Just ask the former president himself.

“I say sometimes to a lawyer, ‘Are you sure you want to represent me? I think you’re making a mistake. What do you need it for?'” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, discussing the legal troubles some of his own attorneys have faced.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on Thursday following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, making him the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.

Attorneys Susan Necheles, Joe Tacopina and Chad Seigel are set to defend Trump in the case. Necheles and Tacopina, both former Brooklyn prosecutors, said Thursday that they would “vigorously fight” the charges.

Trump has cycled through private lawyers ever since he took office as president in 2016, through congressional investigations, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference, his own false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and fallout from the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

One of his past lawyers, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations over the Daniels payment and served three years in prison and under home confinement. He is expected to be a key witness in the New York case.

Along the way, Trump has built a reputation for demanding loyalty from his attorneys and rejecting advice that clashes with his own brash style.

“He wants a lawyer who is completely loyal to him and will do what he tells them,” said Ty Cobb, who managed the White House’s response to Mueller’s probe for Trump before being replaced in 2018.

Trump’s long list of past attorneys includes former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who oversaw Trump’s post-2020 election litigation. His New York law license was suspended in 2021 after a court said he made “demonstrably false and misleading” election fraud claims.

Tacopina, a sharp-suited frequent cable news commenter who is accustomed to litigating in the spotlight of New York’s tabloids, has represented rapper Meek Mill, former Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle. The attorney told Reuters before the indictment that he is unafraid of controversial cases and that he and Trump have a relationship of “mutual respect.”

Tacopina is also defending Trump in a defamation lawsuit from writer E. Jean Carroll over Trump’s denial of Carroll’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.

Necheles, a onetime lawyer for late Genovese crime family underboss Venero “Benny Eggs” Mangano, defended the Trump Organization in a criminal trial last year in which the company was convicted of a scheme to defraud tax authorities.

(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Jonathan Oatis)


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Trump’s New York lawyers are latest in long, troubled line

By Jacqueline Thomsen

(Reuters) – Representing Donald Trump, who is now under indictment in New York, is no easy job. Just ask the former president himself.

“I say sometimes to a lawyer, ‘Are you sure you want to represent me? I think you’re making a mistake. What do you need it for?'” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday, discussing the legal troubles some of his own attorneys have faced.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on Thursday following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, making him the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.

Attorneys Susan Necheles, Joe Tacopina and Chad Seigel are set to defend Trump in the case. Necheles and Tacopina, both former Brooklyn prosecutors, said Thursday that they would “vigorously fight” the charges.

Trump has cycled through private lawyers ever since he took office as president in 2016, through congressional investigations, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election interference, his own false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and fallout from the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

One of his past lawyers, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations over the Daniels payment and served three years in prison and under home confinement. He is expected to be a key witness in the New York case.

Along the way, Trump has built a reputation for demanding loyalty from his attorneys and rejecting advice that clashes with his own brash style.

“He wants a lawyer who is completely loyal to him and will do what he tells them,” said Ty Cobb, who managed the White House’s response to Mueller’s probe for Trump before being replaced in 2018.

Trump’s long list of past attorneys includes former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who oversaw Trump’s post-2020 election litigation. His New York law license was suspended in 2021 after a court said he made “demonstrably false and misleading” election fraud claims.

Tacopina, a sharp-suited frequent cable news commenter who is accustomed to litigating in the spotlight of New York’s tabloids, has represented rapper Meek Mill, former Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle. The attorney told Reuters before the indictment that he is unafraid of controversial cases and that he and Trump have a relationship of “mutual respect.”

Tacopina is also defending Trump in a defamation lawsuit from writer E. Jean Carroll over Trump’s denial of Carroll’s claim that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.

Necheles, a onetime lawyer for late Genovese crime family underboss Venero “Benny Eggs” Mangano, defended the Trump Organization in a criminal trial last year in which the company was convicted of a scheme to defraud tax authorities.

(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Jonathan Oatis)


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Trump lawyer says ex-president will not be handcuffed when he surrenders

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump will not be handcuffed when he surrenders next week in New York to face criminal charges, under the terms of a deal agreed between his defense attorneys and Manhattan prosecutors, defense lawyer Joe Tacopina said on Friday.

Tacopina said in an interview that he expected the arrest otherwise to proceed as a matter of routine on Tuesday, when Trump is due to appear to face an indictment following a grand jury investigation of a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

“I don’t know how all this is going to go down. There’s no textbook to see how you arraign a former president of the United States in criminal court,” Tacopina said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office could not immediately be reached for reaction to Tacopina’s comments.

Tacopina said Trump and his defense team were surprised by news of the indictment: “Initially we were all shocked. Didn’t believe they were actually going to go through with this because there’s no crime here.”

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)


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US Justice Dept sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio train derailment

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit late Thursday against Norfolk Southern Corp to ensure that the company pays the full cost of cleanup and any long-term effects of the derailment in Ohio of one of its freight trains in early February.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Ohio on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeks penalties and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants under the Clean Water Act and an order addressing liability for past and future costs.

The derailment on Feb. 3 of 38 cars including 11 carrying hazardous materials in the village of East Palestine caused cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other hazardous chemicals to spill and catch fire.

“With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday.

EPA in February issued an order requiring Norfolk Southern to develop plans to address contamination and pay EPA’s response costs.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the suit will help “ensure Norfolk Southern cleans up the mess they made and pays for the damage they have inflicted as we work to ensure this community can feel safe at home again.”

The railroad did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told lawmakers last week that the railroad is “committed” to paying for cleanup costs and addressing potential long-term health issues and home value impacts from the derailment.

Shaw said the railroad will work with the community on programs to protect drinking water over the long term.

No deaths or injuries were reported after the incident but since the derailment, some of East Palestine’s 4,700 residents have reported ailments such as rashes and breathing difficulties, and some fear long-term health effects.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Porter)


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Trump lawyer says ex-president will not be handcuffed when he surrenders

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump will not be handcuffed when he surrenders next week in New York to face criminal charges, under the terms of a deal agreed between his defense attorneys and Manhattan prosecutors, defense lawyer Joe Tacopina said on Friday.

Tacopina said in an interview that he expected the arrest otherwise to proceed as a matter of routine on Tuesday, when Trump is due to appear to face an indictment following a grand jury investigation of a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

“I don’t know how all this is going to go down. There’s no textbook to see how you arraign a former president of the United States in criminal court,” Tacopina said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office could not immediately be reached for reaction to Tacopina’s comments.

Tacopina said Trump and his defense team were surprised by news of the indictment: “Initially we were all shocked. Didn’t believe they were actually going to go through with this because there’s no crime here.”

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)


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US Justice Dept sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio train derailment

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Corp over the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeks damages for alleged Clean Water Act violations.

The derailment of 38 cars including 11 carrying hazardous materials led to the release over 1 million gallons of hazardous materials, Ohio’s attorney general has said. The state of Ohio filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern earlier this month.

The U.S. lawsuit seeks to hold Norfolk Southern “accountable for unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup.”

Norfolk Southern did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Porter)


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US Justice Dept sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio train derailment

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Corp over the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeks damages for alleged Clean Water Act violations.

The derailment of 38 cars including 11 carrying hazardous materials led to the release over 1 million gallons of hazardous materials, Ohio’s attorney general has said. The state of Ohio filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern earlier this month.

The U.S. lawsuit seeks to hold Norfolk Southern “accountable for unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup.”

Norfolk Southern did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Porter)


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Trump to face criminal charges, sending US into uncharted waters

By Karen Freifeld, Luc Cohen and Tyler Clifford

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump, the ex-president and frontrunner to be Republican nominee in 2024, is set to face a mug shot, finger-printing and court appearance next week after being indicted over a probe into hush money paid to a porn star in a historic U.S. first.

The possible spectacle of Trump’s appearance in Manhattan on Tuesday before a judge as the first sitting or former president to face criminal charges could further divide the world’s most powerful country.

Trump is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year. Even before news of the indictment broke, he had been seeking to use the legal threats to raise money and rally his most faithful supporters.

The first U.S. president to have tried to overthrow an election defeat, whose false claims of election fraud inspired the deadly U.S. Capitol assault on Jan. 6, 2021, signaled that he will continue to campaign even as he faces charges.

Those specific charges have not yet been made public as the indictment remains under seal, but CNN on Thursday reported Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud.

While Trump claimed in a social media post on March 18 that he would be arrested in days, Trump’s first reaction at the news was “shock,” said one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, in a Friday interview on ABC.

“We’ll go in there and we’ll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively,” Tacopina said.

Trump, 76, said he was “completely innocent” and accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat who led the investigation, of trying to hurt his electoral chances.

“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement.

Trump claims political motivations for all four criminal investigations he is known to face – including federal probes into his retention of classified documents and attempts to overturn his election defeat, and a separate Georgia probe into his attempt to overturn his loss in that state.

He has also accused Bragg, who is Black, of racial bias.

‘LET THE PROCESS PROCEED’

Shortly after news of his indictment broke, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense.

As news of Trump’s indictment flashed across a news ticker on a Times Square skyscraper on Thursday evening, New York City resident Elizabeth Blaise welcomed the news.

“It shows that democracy is finally at a place where it is supposed to be,” she said.

Trump earlier this month called for nationwide protests, recalling his charged rhetoric ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

Neither the White House nor Biden, a Democrat who is widely expected to seek re-election, commented.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, called for calm: “I encourage both Mr. Trump’s critics and supporters to let the process proceed peacefully and according to the law.”

TUESDAY SURRENDER

The Manhattan charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days and Trump will have to travel there to be photographed, fingerprinted and appear in court, which a court official said was expected on Tuesday. Trump lawyer Susan Necheles confirmed the Tuesday surrender date and said she did not expect charges to be unsealed until that day.

The grand jury indictment follows months of hearing evidence about an alleged $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 campaign.

But any potential trial is still at least more than a year away, legal experts said, meaning it could occur during or after the presidential campaign.

Necheles said Trump will “vigorously fight” the charges.

Trump received support from a number of potential challengers for the Republican nomination including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.

“This will only further serve to divide our country,” Pence said.

DeSantis wrote on Twitter: “The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is un-American.”

Among Trump’s faithful outside his Mar-a-Lago property, Jill Cohen, 57, said the indictment would only bolster him.

“Do you really think that they’re going to take President Trump out of the running for president because of some old horse-face story? No! I don’t believe that for a second,” said Cohen. “What they’re doing to him right now is only strengthening his base.”

Other Republican voters might tire of the drama, though.

Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.

How much the case affects the election could have profound implications beyond U.S. borders.

While president between 2017 and 2021, Trump regularly clashed with allies over trade and defense, and a return to the Oval Office could weaken U.S support for Ukraine.

AFFAIRS ALLEGED

Trump has escaped legal peril numerous times.

In the White House, he weathered two attempts by Congress to remove him from office, over the U.S. Capitol assault by supporters and probe into his campaign’s contacts with Russia in 2016.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office successfully prosecuted Trump’s business on tax-fraud charges last year, leading to a $1.61 million criminal penalty.

The presiding judge in that case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is expected to oversee the Daniels case as well, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Legal experts say Bragg is expected to argue Trump falsified business records to cover up another crime, such as violating federal campaign-finance law, which makes it a felony.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received money in exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.

The former president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said he coordinated with Trump on the payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual relationship with him.

Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.

Trump in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a “simple private transaction.”

Cohen pleaded guilty to a campaign-finance violation in 2018 and served more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors said he acted at Trump’s direction.

Cohen said he stood by his testimony and the evidence he provided.

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Katherine Jackson; Writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Scott Malone, Mark Heinrich, Frank Jack Daniel and Chizu Nomiyama)


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US Justice Dept sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio train derailment

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Corp over the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeks damages for alleged Clean Water Act violations.

The derailment of 38 cars including 11 carrying hazardous materials led to the release over 1 million gallons of hazardous materials, Ohio’s attorney general has said. The state of Ohio filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern earlier this month.

The U.S. lawsuit seeks to hold Norfolk Southern “accountable for unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup.”

Norfolk Southern did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Porter)


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US Justice Dept sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio train derailment

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Corp over the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeks damages for alleged Clean Water Act violations.

The derailment of 38 cars including 11 carrying hazardous materials led to the release over 1 million gallons of hazardous materials, Ohio’s attorney general has said. The state of Ohio filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern earlier this month.

The U.S. lawsuit seeks to hold Norfolk Southern “accountable for unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup.”

Norfolk Southern did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Mark Porter)


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