Trump replaces two lawyers in secret document case

Former President Trump announced that he has replaced the two lawyers representing him in the secret document retention case, but did not give a reason.

"I want to thank Jim Trusty and John Rowley for the work they have done. They faced a group of dishonest and vicious people like no one has ever seen before. Additional attorneys will be announced in the coming days," former US President Donald Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social on June 9.

The two lawyers later issued a statement confirming that they had resigned from their positions representing former President Trump. "We are no longer working with him in the prosecution or investigation of the January 6, 2021 incident," attorneys Trusty and Rowley said.

The former US president said his next representative would be Todd Blanche, the lawyer who accompanied him to his court appearance in Manhattan in April, and "a firm to be announced later".

Former President Trump in Scotland on May 1. Photo: AFP — Former President Trump in Scotland on May 1. Photo: *AFP*

The former US president said on the evening of June 8 that he had been notified that he would be prosecuted for keeping classified documents. Trump did not provide any documents to prove it, but added that he had been summoned to appear in federal court in Miami, Florida, on June 13. US officials have not confirmed this information.

Five sources familiar with the situation said on June 9 that federal judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, will preside over Trump’s appearance in federal court in Miami. It is unclear whether Judge Cannon will continue to serve in this role in future hearings.

In November 2022, the US Department of Justice appointed special prosecutor Jack Smith to oversee investigations into Mr. Trump's efforts to change the 2020 election results, the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021, and the FBI's seizure of classified documents at the Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022.

In August 2022, investigators obtained about 13,000 documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, including about 100 confidential documents and some top secret documents.

The Presidential Records Act requires that presidential and vice presidential documents be transferred to the National Archives at the end of their terms in office, for safekeeping and protection.

Mr. Trump became the first former US president to be indicted in late March, in connection with allegations of falsifying business records to pay to suppress information that was unfavorable to the 2016 presidential election. A New York judge said Mr. Trump would be tried in March 2024. This is a state-level prosecution while the case of keeping classified documents is handled at the federal level.

Vu Anh (According to ABC News )

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