Evan Corcoran, Donald Trump’s lawyer who became a critical witness in the classified documents case against the former president, is no longer representing him, CNN has learned.
According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, Corcoran left Trump’s legal team in recent months, a notable departure as the criminal case remains in limbo in South Florida.
Corcoran’s quiet exit from Trump’s orbit could pose a significant problem for the former president, with the possibility that prosecutors could call him as a key witness if the case goes to trial. He was also one of the last lawyers on Trump’s defense team to handle his federal investigations early on, as his legal risks skyrocketed.
Corcoran was hired to help Trump fend off accusations in the classified documents investigation, but instead became a central witness after Trump allegedly misled him about the whereabouts of the documents in his Mar-a-Lago club and allegedly encouraged him to lie to the judge. Ministry and retain these documents.
A year ago, Corcoran had to appear before a grand jury investigating the case after a district judge ruled that he could not use attorney-client privilege to protect the lawyers’ notes and memos. investigators into his interactions with Trump, saying prosecutors had met the threshold required for the felony-fraud exception for him. The voice memos turned into notes provided a road map for prosecutors when they charged Trump. Corcoran is referred to as “Trump Attorney 1” in this indictment.
If the case goes to trial, Corcoran will likely be a key witness for the prosecution. The case has been mired in delays and unresolved logistical questions for months now.
Corcoran ultimately recused himself from representing Trump in the classified documents case, but continued to represent him in other investigations. He personally accompanied the former president when he appeared in Washington last August on federal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Corcoran declined to comment to CNN.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told CNN in a statement, “Mr. Corcoran remains on the legal team and continues to contribute to the fight against the Biden trial witch hunt,” adding that ” any claims to the contrary are fake news peddled by uninformed sources and misleading reporting that seeks to spread disinformation and misinformation.”
Corcoran’s departure from the team underscores how relatively new to Trump’s legal team are those who could ultimately bring either of these cases to trial. Two other lawyers who worked on those two investigations, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, left last summer. The result is a loss of institutional knowledge on the part of the attorneys who were plagued by the investigations — handling subpoenas and communicating with Justice Department lawyers — before they turned into landmark indictments.
But it’s Corcoran’s role in the investigation into the classified documents that could pose the biggest problem for Trump. According to special counsel Jack Smith, Corcoran’s notes detailed his interactions with Trump and revealed how Corcoran’s client plotted to thwart a subpoena from prosecutors. At one point, after Corcoran personally searched for the remaining documents at Mar-a-Lago, Trump discussed with the lawyer what to do with the 38 documents marked as classified that Corcoran had found and placed in a file Redweld.
“Did you find something? …Is it bad? Good?” Trump allegedly said, according to the indictment.
The two men discussed whether the lawyer should take the documents to his hotel room for safekeeping. Trump then allegedly made a “pinch motion” during the conversation, which the Corcoran described as meaning, “OK, why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything some really bad ones in there, like, you know, rip it out.
Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago employee referenced as “Trump Employee Number 5” in classified Trump indictment documents, also placed Corcoran at a key moment leading to the indictment of the former president. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Butler recalled helping — unknowingly — move boxes containing classified information to the airport at the same time Trump hosted federal investigators at his property in June 2022.
“I remember seeing this bigger guy,” Butler said, “who I now know was Evan Corcoran. And I saw a lot of other people, in the living room. I had no idea. I just see all these people. I have no idea why they are there.
Butler later realized it was a meeting Corcoran and another attorney had with FBI investigators. Two months later, the FBI visited the property with a search warrant in hand.
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