Who's on Donald Trump's legal team? Meet the attorneys representing Trump.
A grim-faced Donald Trump sat in a Manhattan courtroom surrounded by his team of attorneys Tuesday, making history as the first former president to face criminal charges.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records associated with hush money payments to several people. Trump’s arraignment followed his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury last week related to the hush money payments.
Trump's lawyers said he was determined to fight the case.
"He's frustrated, he's upset," attorney Todd Blanche told reporters in New York. "It's not going to stop him."
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Todd Blanche
The Trump campaign hired Todd Blanche, an experienced white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, to be a part of Trump’s legal counsel on April 3 – the eve of Trump's arraignment.
Blanche's past clients include Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, and Igor Fruman, a Rudy Guliani associate who pleaded guilty to a campaign finance scheme in 2021.
Manafort was charged in New York on similar fraud offenses that were the basis of two prior convictions in federal court. He had been accused in a 16-count indictment of defrauding banks of more than $1 million by submitting false financial statements when applying for residential mortgage loans.
Blanche led the legal team that won the dismissal of the state fraud charges in 2019. Trump also pardoned Manafort in 2020 on federal charges.
Susan Necheles
Susan Necheles acted as a defense lawyer representing the Trump Corporation during a criminal tax fraud trial of two of Trump's companies in 2022.
She was also a former counsel to Venero Mangano, the former Genovese crime family underboss known as Benny Eggs, according to the New York Times.
Necheles told reporters that the indictment was "unjustified."
Joe Tacopina
One of Trump’s more outspoken lawyers is Joe Tacopina, who has done multiple television interviews vigorously defending the former president.
“Today’s unsealing of this indictment shows that the rule of law died in this country,” Tacopina told reporters in New York Tuesday after Trump’s arraignment.
Tacopina has represented multiple high-profile clients, including Michael Jackson and Sean Hannity. This also isn’t his first time working in the Trump world either, as he represented Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks.
Contributing: Kevin Johnson, David Jackson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pleads not guilty, meet Trump's legal team
