Donald Trump has hired a new lawyer amid speculation that the former president is set to be indicted as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's January 6 Capitol riot and 2020 election probe, according to reports.
John Lauro, founder of the Lauro Law Firm—now known as Lauro & Singer—has been brought onto Trump's legal team and is focusing on dealing with Smith's investigation into the attempt to overturn the last presidential election results, according to CNN.
Shelby Talcott, a reporter for Semafor, confirmed the reporting of Lauro's hiring on Twitter, citing a "familiar source." Newsweek reached out to Lauro's office via email for comment.
Trump adding a new face to his defense team came after the former president said he had received a letter informing him that he is the target of a federal investigation over attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the events that led up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a sign that Trump is on the verge of another indictment.
Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has denied all wrongdoing in connection with Smith's probe, and accused it of being "election interference."
Lauro is said to be joining the team along with Todd Blanche, who also represents the former president in the classified documents case and in New York where Trump is accused of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him in both cases.
Lauro represented Trump attorney Christina Bobb when prosecutors in Georgia were attempting to speak to her about the former president's alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
Speaking to ABC News in March, Lauro claimed prosecutors from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office wanted to question Bobb despite knowing "nothing about any role" she might have had in Georgia.
"They had a year and a half of investigating and never once reached out to Christina Bobb," he said. "It was one of the more strange conversations I've had."
Bobb, a former anchor on the One America News Network (OAN), was one of Trump's lawyers present during the FBI raid for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago last August, a case now headed by Smith.
Lauro deals with criminal and commercial litigation, and handles cases which involve "accounting, securities, conspiracy, healthcare and other white collar and commercial litigation issues," according to a description page on his firm's website.
Having grown up in New York, Lauro graduated from Georgetown University before attending Georgetown University Law Center.
He returned to New York and began practicing with the international law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius before joining the criminal division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
In 1994, he set up his own firm, which later became Lauro & Singer. The firm has offices in New York and Florida.
