There’s a non-zero chance disgraced former President Trump could be left without his main New York City attorney Joe Tacopina on the eve of his all-but-certain indictment as former Defense Department counsel and media lawyer guy Ryan Goodman has dug up a 2018 interview with CNN’s Don Lemon in which Tacopina said pornstar Stormy Daniels had approached him for representation and, although Daniels didn’t retain him and ended up with future convict Michael Avenatti, just the brief consultation likely creates a damning conflict of interest, according to Goodman.
“Under ABA, NYS ethics rules, difficult to see how he can represent Trump; call Daniel’s claim of affair untrue; call her an extortionist (and Trump the victim),” Goodman writes, citing Tacopina’s own words in the interview, saying he “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.”