Two of Donald Trump’s top lawyers abruptly quit his defense team today, hours after news broke that the former Republican president and another close associate (named Walt Nauta) were being prosecuted on charges related to the conversion with secret government documents.

Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who for several months led Trump’s Washington legal team and made frequent appearances in federal court, announced today that they will no longer represent Trump in cases being investigated by U.S. Attorney Jack Smith.

It is noted that Smith is investigating the case of classified documents found in the Trump mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, as well as allegations that Trump tried to cancel the results of the 2020 presidential election.

This is the first time in history that a former US president has been put on trial for federal crimes.

In the 2016 New York case of Trump’s out-of-court settlement with Stormy Daniels, the case and indictment were drawn up by the New York District Attorney’s Office. In today’s case, the indictment is, in fact, drawn up by the Department of Justice, since this is a case in which the federal government is involved.

In August 2022, the FBI seized about 13,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. About 100 of them were classified, although Trump’s lawyer had previously assured that all classified documents were returned.

According to Politico