Stormy Daniels’ attempt to challenge former President Donald Trump’s legal team has finally come to an end.
On Tuesday, New York’s Attorney Grievance Committee threw out claims of a conflict of interest with Trump attorney Joe Tacopina in the porn actress’s protracted “hush-money” case because of his previous dealings with her.
“Following an investigation of the allegations in the above-referenced complaint filed against you, the Committee has determined to take no further action,” Jorge Dopico, chief attorney for the Attorney Grievance Committee of the First Judicial Department, wrote in a terse, single-sentence letter to Tacopina, The Messenger reported.
“Now both the court and the disciplinary committee have ruled that there was no conflict or ethical violation at all, as I have said from day one,” Tacopina told The Messenger.
“It seems that Stormy Daniels and her joke of a lawyer’s 15 minutes of fame have come to an appropriate end,” he added.
However, Tacopina will still not be allowed to cross-examine Daniels should she testify during the upcoming trial against the former president.
In September, the judge presiding over Trump’s hush money case similarly determined that Tacopina had no conflict of interest after an independent expert confirmed that her claims “lack merit.”
Allegations regarding Tacopina’s relationship with Daniels were raised during Trump’s arraignment in April, when he was charged with falsifying business records relating to Daniels in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Stormy Daniels’s conflict complaint against former President Trump’s hush money lawyer tossed.
Daniels filed the complaint earlier this year after claiming attorney Joe Tacopina had a conflict because of his prior dealings with her.https://t.co/k5N9jp8XYr pic.twitter.com/0gDwmcxy8R
— The Hill (@thehill) November 22, 2023
Daniels’ attorney Clark Brewster had argued that his client had previously reached out to Tacopina’s law firm for advice regarding the hush money arrangement.
Tacopina, meanwhile, insisted that he never served as Daniels’ lawyer and had not even met her in person.
“I trust that the grievance committee gave the complaint diligent and careful consideration,” Brewster said after the ruling in an email reported by The Hill.
“In reporting the facts to the committee, I simply felt obliged under the rules of professional conduct to disclose the facts implicating a rules violation and thereupon leave it to a well-constituted committee to render its judgment.”
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has repeatedly failed in her legal efforts against Trump and was even ordered to pay over $600,000 in legal fees on account of bringing “meritless litigation.”
Trump’s New York criminal trial is currently scheduled to take place in March. He has pleaded not guilty to all the various charges against him.
