Trump reportedly hires new defense lawyer as he faces NY indictment

Former President Donald Trump has hired top criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche to head up his legal team as he gears up to fight criminal charges in Manhattan, according to a report on Monday. 

Blanche, a former partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, informed the white-shoe law firm that he was resigning to represent Trump, 76, on the indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Politico reported. 

“I have been asked to represent Trump in the recently charged DA case, and after much thought/consideration, I have decided it is the best thing for me to do and an opportunity I should not pass up,” Blanche said in an email to the firm, the outlet reported.

News of the addition to Trump’s legal team broke as the former president boarded his private plane in Palm Beach, Fla., to travel to New York, where he is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court. 

Blanche, a former assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, previously represented Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, in a mortgage fraud case.

He also defended Igor Fruman, an associate of Rudy Guiliani who pleaded guilty to foreign campaign violations and was sentenced to a year in prison in January 2022. 

Trump was indicted by a grand jury last Thursday in connection with a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.