A top Trump lawyer has recused himself from Mar-a-Lago documents case
One of former president Donald Trump’s top lawyers on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case is no longer working on the matter after he appeared before a federal grand jury last month, according to people familiar with the move.
Evan Corcoran is still representing Trump in other cases, such as special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information they are not authorized to disclose.
Prosecutors investigating Trump’s taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago Club after leaving office won a court fight that allowed them to question Corcoran when judges ruled that he could not use attorney-client privilege to avoid disclosing information about his communications with Trump. Prosecutors cited an exception to the legal principle that lawyers must keep confidential what they are told by their clients when there is evidence that a client used the attorney’s legal services in furtherance of a crime.
The Justice Department is increasingly focused on possible obstruction by Trump in the investigation into the documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home, and whether Trump took steps to impede or directed others to impede government efforts to collect all the sensitive records.
Trump and his legal team failed to comply with a subpoena in May demanding he return all documents with classified markings. The Washington Post reported last week that Smith’s team has gathered new evidence pointing to potential obstruction by Trump, and Smith is seeking to determine whether there is enough evidence to ask a grand jury to charge him with obstructing the investigation.
Corcoran played a lead role in communicating with the Justice Department in response to the subpoena and attested to investigators in June that a diligent search had been conducted to collect classified documents. Corcoran was forced to answer questions about Trump and his legal team’s response to the subpoena and regarding the communications he had with Trump about returning the documents, The Post has previously reported.
Investigators have questioned more than a dozen witnesses and obtained emails and texts about the period between when the subpoena was received in May and when FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago in August and recovered over 100 documents that were still in Trump’s possession.
“The legal team handling all matters involving the special counsel — myself, James Trusty, John Rowley, Lindsey Halligan, and Evan Corcoran is intact and we continue to work closely with Evan as we do with the entire team to protect our client,” Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore said in a statement, without elaborating on Corcoran’s role.
Corcoran’s lawyer declined to comment.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung suggested the people confirming Corcoran’s recusal were inaccurate but did not provide any details.
“These unnamed sources have no idea what’s actually going on and are peddling disinformation,” Cheung said.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, so it is not immediately clear how helpful Corcoran’s testimony might be to Smith and his team. But legal ethics rules — including those in Maryland and D.C. — generally bar lawyers from acting as advocates at trial when they are likely to be essential witnesses.
The rule is meant to prevent conflicts of interest between the attorney and client, as well as to avoid putting the other party and the judge at a disadvantage by confusing whether an attorney is speaking to facts on the basis of personal knowledge or is commenting on evidence given by others.
Corcoran’s recusal may be temporary, as the witness advocate rule does not become mandatory until the case goes to trial, according to a person familiar with the matter.