A lawyer who leave the team fighting back Donald Trump in crime case of classified documents said Friday that he would no longer represent the former president in a separate defamation suit against CNN.

Attorney Jim Trusty said in a court filing that his request to withdraw from the $475 million civil suit “is based on irreconcilable differences” with Trump.

“Counsel is no longer able to effectively and properly represent Plaintiff,” the Trusts wrote in a filing in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Neither Trusty nor CNN’s lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment on Trusty’s move to withdraw as Trump’s attorney.

Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s remaining attorney in the defamation case, referred CNBC to a spokesman for the former president, Steven Cheung, who said the defamation lawsuit “is entering a new phase as more irrefutable facts are revealed.”

“We thank Mr. Trusty for his work on this case and wish him the best,” Cheung said.

A week earlier, Trusty and another lawyer, John Rowley, resigned as Trump’s counsel in a federal criminal case that had just resulted in his indictment on charges related to his post-presidential efforts to keep a series of classified documents in his office. Mar-a-Lago.

“Now that the case has been filed in Miami, it is a logical time for us to step back and let others bring the cases to a close,” Trusty and Rowley said in a statement.

Four days later, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts, including withholding national defense records, withholding documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The attorneys’ statement also noted that they would no longer represent Trump in another ongoing federal criminal investigation into the events surrounding the riots at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Both investigations were overseen by U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.

They bear little resemblance to Trump’s civil defamation lawsuit against CNN that was filed in October.

Trump, who has a long history of attacking the media and specific reporters for reporting he doesn’t like, accused CNN of waging a “smear campaign” against him, including comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

The lawsuit addressed CNN’s frequent invocation of Big Lies, a term used to refer to the various false claims of election fraud that Trump and his allies have peddled as they claim the presidency. Joe BidenThe 2020 election victory was rigged.

“The ‘Big Lie’ is a direct reference to the tactics used by Adolf Hitler that appeared in Hitler’s Mein Kampf,” Trump’s legal team, which included the Trusts at the time, argued.

CNN asked the court in November to dismiss the case, calling Trump’s claims “unsustainable and repugnant to a free press and open political debate.”

The portal noted that Trump’s lawsuit hinges on just five CNN pieces. It argued that none of them suggested he “has the nature of Hitler”.

Trump’s complaint suggested that CNN was defaming him to undermine his potential candidacy in the next presidential election. Trump launched his 2024 campaign the next month and consistently led the Republican primary field in the polls.

Trump is seeking $475 million in punitive damages and more than $75,000 in compensatory damages.