(Bloomberg) -- A lawyer who represents President Donald Trump's campaign in one of several stalled election lawsuits in Pennsylvania asked a federal judge for permission to withdraw from the case, saying he now thinks the suit helped “perpetrate a crime” -- a reference to Wednesday's storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.
In a court filing Thursday, attorney Jerome Marcus told U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia that he has a “fundamental disagreement” with the outgoing president, who “insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant.” Such reasons allow for a lawyer's withdrawal from representing a client under Pennsylvania's Rules of Professional Conduct.
“I believe that the filing of that and other cases was used by President Trump yesterday to incite people to violence,” Marcus said in an email. “I refer specifically to his urging people to come to Washington for a ‘wild' protest.”
Marcus represents the campaign in a Nov. 5 suit against city election officials. The campaign lost an emergency request for an injunction, but the case wasn't dismissed and didn't go to trial. It remains active, seeking a court finding that election officials violated the law.
Diamond ordered Marcus on Thursday to formally serve the motion on the Trump campaign. Such motions are generally accepted by judges.
The lawsuit was “factually based” and resulted in a court-approved agreement on greater access for observers, Marcus said in the email.
Trump and his allies filed dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits across the country as the president sought to reverse his election loss, which Democrats and some Republicans said would have deprived millions of people of their votes.
Trump's campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
Marcus filed the lawsuit with lawyers from Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, which had been the lead firm representing Trump's campaign in its Pennsylvania court challenges until it withdrew on Nov. 13 amid criticism that it was helping Trump try to subvert democracy.
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