Trump’s main lawyer said he quit the legal team

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WASHINGTON

A top lawyer for Donald Trump said Wednesday he is leaving the president’s former legal team, a move that comes as a special counsel investigation into the retention of classified documents shows signs of being is in its final stages.

Timothy Parlatore told the Associated Press that his departure had nothing to do with Trump and was not a reflection of his view of the Justice Department’s investigation, which he has long called flawed and overly aggressive, or of the strength of the government’s evidence. He said he believes he has served Trump well.

Other lawyers, including former Justice Department prosecutor James Trusty, continue to represent Trump in the Washington investigations.

CNN previously reported Parlatores’ departure.

Parlatore has long been a key member of the team representing Trump in an investigation by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith into the possession of hundreds of classified documents at the former president’s Florida home, Mar-a- Lago, as well as possible efforts to block that probe.

A grand jury over the past few months has heard from a wide range of witnesses close to Trump. Federal prosecutors in March questioned another of the Trumps’ lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, before a grand jury after successfully piercing the attorney-client privilege. Parlatore testified voluntarily in December about efforts to recover classified documents in response to government requests.

Last month, Parlatore and other lawyers for Trump released a letter to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner, who laid out a series of arguments in Trump’s defense and says the Justice Department should be ordered to drop its investigation.

In addition to the Mar-a-Lago probe, Smith is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, with former Vice President Mike Pence among the grand jury witnesses in that probe . Manhattan prosecutors indicted Trump in March over hush money payments to a porn star who said he had sex with her years ago.

In Georgia, Fulton County prosecutors are expected to announce in the coming months the results of an investigation into attempts to overturn Trump’s election loss to President Biden in that state.

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