Stormy
Daniels
What
is
it
about
Donald
Trump
that
causes
good
lawyers
to
break
bad?
It’s
a
magical
superpower
that
felled
Rudy,
Dersh,
and
too
many
others
to
count.
And
now
it
appears
to
have
claimed
another
victim
in
the
form
of
Joseph
Tacopina,
the
celebrity
defense
lawyer
representing
Trump
in
both
the
E.
Jean
Carroll
defamation/battery
case
and
in
the
reportedly
impending
charges
by
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
arising
out
of
the
2016
hush
money
payment
to
pornstar
Stormy
Daniels.
As
Just
Security
editor
Ryan
Goodman
points
out,
Tacopina
appears
to
have
consulted
with
Daniels
back
in
2018
before
she
hired
Michael
Avenatti.
Goodman,
a
professor
at
NYU
Law,
notes
that
the
conversation
about
the
hush
money
payment
created
an
attorney-client
relationship
under
both
ABA
rules
and
New
York’s
Rules
of
Professional
Conduct.
Indeed,
Tacopina
admitted
this
to
CNN’s
Don
Lemon
five
years
ago,
saying,
“I
can’t
really
talk
about
my
impressions
or
any
conversations
we
had
because
there
is
an
attorney-
client
privilege
that
attaches
even
to
a
consultation.”
And
so
his
on-air
antics
this
week,
not
to
say
his
representation
of
Trump
in
a
matter
arising
out
of
that
payment
to
Daniels,
seem
even
weirder.
On
Monday,
Tacopina
went
on
ABC’s
Good
Morning
America
and
accused
Daniels
of
extorting
his
client.
“This
was
a
plain
extortion,
and
I
don’t
know
since
when
we’ve
decided
to
start
prosecuting
extortion
victims?”
the
lawyer
huffed
to
George
Stephanopoulos.
“He’s
vehemently
denied
this
affair,
but
he
had
to
pay
the
money
because
there
was
going
to
be
an
allegation
that
was
going
to
be
publicly
embarrassing
to
him
regardless
of
the
campaign.”
On
Tuesday,
he
was
practically
manic
with
NBC’s
Ari
Melber,
grabbing
the
papers
out
of
the
host’s
hand
and
insisting
that
when
Trump
falsely
claimed
not
to
know
about
the
hush
money
agreement,
he
wasn’t
actually
lying.
He
was
actually
protecting
Daniels,
the
extortionist.
Here’s
why
it’s
not
a
lie.
Because
it
was
a
confidential
settlement.
So
if
he
acknowledged
that,
he
would
be
violating
the
confidential
settlement.
So,
is
it
the
truth?
Of
course
it’s
not
the
truth.
Was
he
supposed
to
tell
the
truth?
He
would
be
in
violation
of
the
agreement
if
he
told
the
truth.
So
by
him
doing
that,
he
was
abiding
by,
not
only
his
rights,
but
Stormy
Daniels’s
rights.
This
isn’t
even
the
first
time
Tacopina
has
gotten
caught
making
statements
rubbishing
Trump’s
claims.
On
CNBC
in
2020,
he
mocked
Trump’s
claim
that
he
was
acting
in
his
official
capacity
when
he
denied
E.
Jean
Carroll’s
rape
allegations
and
accused
her
of
participating
in
a
Democratic
hoax.
“Calling
an
alleged
victim
of
rape
…
a
liar
is
not
an
act
in
his
official
capacity,”
he
scoffed,
adding
later, “Although
ad
hominem
attacks
on
members
of
the
regular
public
may
be
a
regular
occurrence
in
the
Oval
Office
these
days,
Article
II
of
the
Constitution
does
not
include
within
the
functions
of
the
presidency
the
role
of
Chief
Mudslinger.”
Tacopina
now
represents
Trump
in
the
related
case
filed
in
2022
under
New
York’s
newly
enacted
Adult
Survivors
Act.
That
suit
also
claims
defamation
because
Trump
repeated
his
original
statement
about
Carroll,
more
or
less
verbatim,
in
October
of
2022,
long
after
he
left
office.
Both
cases
are
set
to
go
to
trial
next
month.
Meanwhile,
Daniels
is
reported
to
have
testified
to
Bragg’s
grand
jury
yesterday,
and
Trump
himself
rejected
an
offer
to
come
in
and
testify
without
immunity
—
i.e.,
incriminate
himself
and/or
commit
perjury.
If
indeed
an
indictment
of
Trump
is
imminent,
it’s
possible
Bragg
could
move
to
disqualify
Tacopina
based
on
the
prior
attorney-client
relationship
with
Daniels.
On
the
other
hand,
Tacopina
seems
inclined
to
go
on
television
and
rant
about
his
client’s
legal
strategy
at
length,
so
perhaps
he’s
worth
keeping
around.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics
and
appears
on
the Opening
Arguments podcast.