diff --git a/litellm/utils.py b/litellm/utils.py
index 2b797ec44c3..821e26435e2 100644
--- a/litellm/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/utils.py
@@ -4687,7 +4687,7 @@ def trim_messages(
     """
     # Initialize max_tokens
     # if users pass in max tokens, trim to this amount
-    messages_copy = copy.deepcopy(messages)
+    messages = copy.deepcopy(messages)
     try:
         print_verbose(f"trimming messages")
         if max_tokens == None:
@@ -4702,20 +4702,20 @@ def trim_messages(
                 return 
         
         system_message = "" 
-        for message in messages_copy:
+        for message in messages:
             if message["role"] == "system":
                 system_message += '\n' if system_message else ''
                 system_message += message["content"]
 
-        current_tokens = token_counter(model=model, messages=messages_copy)
+        current_tokens = token_counter(model=model, messages=messages)
         print_verbose(f"Current tokens: {current_tokens}, max tokens: {max_tokens}")
 
         # Do nothing if current tokens under messages
         if current_tokens < max_tokens:
-            return messages_copy 
+            return messages 
         
         #### Trimming messages if current_tokens > max_tokens
-        print_verbose(f"Need to trim input messages: {messages_copy}, current_tokens{current_tokens}, max_tokens: {max_tokens}")
+        print_verbose(f"Need to trim input messages: {messages}, current_tokens{current_tokens}, max_tokens: {max_tokens}")
         if system_message:
             system_message_event, max_tokens = process_system_message(system_message=system_message, max_tokens=max_tokens, model=model)
 
@@ -4724,9 +4724,9 @@ def trim_messages(
             
             # Since all system messages are combined and trimmed to fit the max_tokens, 
             # we remove all system messages from the messages list
-            messages_copy = [message for message in messages_copy if message["role"] != "system"]
+            messages = [message for message in messages if message["role"] != "system"]
 
-        final_messages = process_messages(messages=messages_copy, max_tokens=max_tokens, model=model)
+        final_messages = process_messages(messages=messages, max_tokens=max_tokens, model=model)
 
         # Add system message to the beginning of the final messages
         if system_message:
@@ -4738,7 +4738,7 @@ def trim_messages(
         return final_messages
     except Exception as e: # [NON-Blocking, if error occurs just return final_messages
         print_verbose(f"Got exception while token trimming{e}")
-        return messages_copy
+        return messages
 
 def get_valid_models():
     """