Attorney Says He Quit Trump's Legal Team Because 'I Had To Follow My Compass'

In his first interview since leaving Donald Trump s legal team, attorney Joe Tacopina cited personal reasons and his compass as reasons behind his departure.

I left the team because it was just my time, he told the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC Saturday in what he said would be his only interview on the matter. I had to follow my compass and my compass told me my time there was done. There are a lot of personal reasons that went into that, things that I cant and wont discuss.

Tacopina represented the former president in his first trial last year against E. Jean Carroll, a writer whom Trump was found liable of defaming and sexually abusing.

Last week, a day before the start of a second defamation trial involving Carroll, Tacopina said he had stopped representing Trump on all matters. He filed notices seeking withdrawal of his law firm from Trumps New York criminal trial and the appeal of the verdict in the first Carroll trial.

Tacopina told MSNBC he would not elaborate on his personal reasons because as much as Id love to discuss them, he has found it to be unprofessional when other former Trump attorneys have gone on to talk about and criticize the former president on TV.

Sharpton pushed him for details.

Obviously, some things happened and your compass went a different way than what your compass was when you went in, he said. And youre dealing with probably the most unhinged defendant of all time. Some lawyers say that you never wanted him to take the stand.

Youre not the kind of person that backed down, unless there was a reason you back down, added Sharpton, who has known Tacopina for years .

And theres a reason, Tacopina replied, and I have to leave it at that.

Later in the interview, he said it was absolutely possible that Trump could be convicted in one of the four criminal cases against him.

Watch the interview below via MSNBC.

","type":"video","meta":{"author":"MSNBC","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaXkIU1QidjPwiAYu6GcHjg","cache_age":86400,"description":"MSNBC's Rev. Al Sharpton speaks with former Donald Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina. \"There were things ... that didn't make me want to continue in that role,\" Tacopina said in his first interview since leaving the former president's legal team.\n\n Subscribe to MSNBC: https://www.youtube.com/msnbc\n \nFollow MSNBC Show Blogs \nMaddowBlog: https://www.msnbc.com/maddowblog\nReidOut Blog: https://www.msnbc.com/reidoutblog\n\nMSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe, The Beat with Ari Melber, Deadline: White House, The ReidOut, All In, Last Word, 11th Hour, and Alex Wagner who brings her breadth of reporting experience to MSNBC primetime. Watch Alex Wagner Tonight Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern. \n \nConnect with MSNBC Online \nVisit msnbc.com: https://www.msnbc.com/\nSubscribe to the MSNBC Daily Newsletter: https://link.msnbc.com/join/5ck/msnbc-daily-signup\nFind MSNBC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msnbc/\nFollow MSNBC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSNBC\nFollow MSNBC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msnbc\n\n#Trump #Courts #JoeTacopina","options":{"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"_end":{"label":"End on","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"_start":{"label":"Start from","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s","value":""},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}},"provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sVLFdtHpJqo/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Trump's ex-lawyer: Trump 'absolutely' can be convicted by Jack Smith I MSNBC EXCLUSIVE","type":"video","url":"https://action.news/watch?v=sVLFdtHpJqo","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"mobile","editionInfo":{"id":"us","name":"U.S.","link":"https://action.news","locale":"en_US"},"originalEdition":"us","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"65aa6fe2e4b076abd7ab53f7","entryPermalink":"https://action.news/entry/joe-tacopina-donald-trump-exit_n_65aa6fe2e4b076abd7ab53f7","entryTagsList":"donald-trump,msnbc,al-sharpton,joe-tacopina,@us_huffpost_now","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":"politics-news","sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"us-news","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"us.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc111dcf87c2cd2f5d8bf","overrides":{"front_page_top_videos":{"desktop":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","mobileweb":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d"},"top_media":{"desktop":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","mobile":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"anthology":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"content":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"}},"playerUpdates":{"5668ae6ee4b0b5e26955d6a6":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","56aa41bae4b091744c0440d8":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81","5841b2b5cc52c716ec6e5a7f":"60b8e355cdd90620331ba185","58b5e2b8d85a10302feee895":"60b64316b171b7444beafdb2","58b74698f78ced31417819ae":"60b8e5bec5449357a7ad9b52","58b74ccecebcea57e2c3a3d1":"60b8e5eac5449357a7ad9ca5","58cff690d85a100b9992bc39":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","58cffb3fb6d9b972a49a3c9d":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","58cffdd74d96935d7d6ec180":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","58d03a84f78ced6518eb2fa7":"60b643c82e76be41f112735c","592edf20e0fa177b0c26f7fd":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","5b35266b158f855373e28256":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","5c116f29f79c4171d82b7c2a":"60b64440b171b7444beb040b","5c1170fc600c9a697bf0c6b9":"60b646102e76be41f1127ffc","5c47791afa1b317df8ae0c4f":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","5c477987a6b48b35f164773d":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","5c4779ee943c3c2a64f28371":"60b8e747cdd90620331bb861","5c477a26fcd67b26879bc7c2":"60b8e788c5449357a7ada67b","5d8921a78c3ae845f366c9b6":"60ae7be5f3a7c13a30417ff9","58b98b00ba82aa39a6534321":"60d0de7c9340d7032ad1146c","58b9d14cb6d9b96c9ec32af3":"60d0dec19340d7032ad115a0","58cff8eccebcea42931e0436":"60d0e005b627221e9d819d44","592edf5de0fa177b0c26f95b":"60d0e38fb627221e9d81adcf","58cff72fd85a100b9992c112":"60d0e447b627221e9d81b0da","56b4d34fe4b022697697c400":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","60b8e4c0c5449357a7ad957d":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b","clickToPlayPlayer":"d014396e-b366-4c17-aeac-3ce906fa3fd0","videoPagePlayer":"f010447b-d244-4111-a314-7b4542ae4145","verticalPlayer":"e58cb05a-0bc8-4210-9108-fea82726c065","stickyPlayerControl":"52ea1755-d601-4ad1-bccc-d8cce3f0e5da","stickyPlayerON":"8055e9e5-3bda-4933-8d45-9ad814fb6e22"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"https://img.connatix.com/ee93a1a0-3268-4d86-95e9-32a569eb5eb2/1_th.jpg?crop=480:270,smart&width=480&height=270&format=jpeg&quality=60&fit=crop","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":4},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":1},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"65aa6fe2e4b076abd7ab53f7","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"mobile","page_edition":"en-us"},"tags":[{"name":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/donald-trump","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/donald-trump"},{"name":"MSNBC","slug":"msnbc","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/msnbc","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/msnbc","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/msnbc"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Media","slug":"media"},"topic":{"title":"MSNBC","slug":"msnbc","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/msnbc"},{"name":"Al Sharpton","slug":"al-sharpton","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/al-sharpton","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/al-sharpton","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/al-sharpton"},"department":{"name":"Voices","slug":"voices"},"section":{"title":"Black Voices","slug":"black-voices"},"topic":{"title":"Al Sharpton","slug":"al-sharpton","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/voices/topic/al-sharpton"},{"name":"Joe Tacopina","slug":"joe-tacopina","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/joe-tacopina","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/joe-tacopina","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/joe-tacopina"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/joe-tacopina"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">