Trump Lawyer Kasowitz Leaves Candace Owens Team in Macron Case

A lawyer linked to President Donald Trump withdrew from the team defending a former Trump ally, right-wing podcaster Candace Owens, against defamation claims filed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Marc Kasowitz, who has represented Trump for decades, didn’t offer any reason for leaving the case in a court filing Tuesday. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware’s Superior Court by Macron and France’s first lady, targets a “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” by Owens, who has repeatedly portrayed Brigitte Macron as a secret trans woman and blood relative of her husband. Owens responded by doubling down on that narrative.

The legal development comes as the US-Israeli war against Iran has deeply fractured the American political right, including the MAGA movement, which includes multiple high-profile figures espousing an “America First” ideology characterized by isolationist or anti-war tendencies. Owens is one of several conservative leaders who have broken with the president on Iran, including fellow podcaster Joe Rogan, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and Tucker Carlson, who publicly apologized this week for his past support of Trump.

Kasowitz, a spokesman for Owens, and her remaining lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Macrons, who filed their 22-count complaint last July in a private rather than official capacity, have blamed Owens for a “campaign of global humiliation, turning their lives into fodder for profit-driven lies.” The lawsuit alleges a long history of fabrications, including past statements by Owens minimizing the Holocaust and claiming “the world is being run by a gang of Satanic pedophiles masquerading as Jewish people.”

It seeks unspecified damages, including punitive damages.

Owens, who has said she’s “not shutting up” in the face of “bullying” by politicians, argued in an October court filing that holding her liable would violate “a sacred precept of US Constitutional Law.” But she moved in the same filing to dismiss the case on jurisdictional and statute of limitations grounds, rather over First Amendment concerns.

The Macrons are represented by Farnan LLP and Clare Locke LLP. Owens is represented by Richards, Layton & Finger PA, Noah Balch Law PC, and Horwitz Law PLLC.

The case is Macron v. Owens, Del. Super. Ct., No. N25C-07-194, notice of withdrawal filed 4/21/26.