The team, led by Butch Bowers, left.
All five impeachment lawyers who were supposed to represent former President Donald Trump have dropped out, sources told ABC News.
The team, led by South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, resigned in part because of disagreements over how to mount Trump’s defense, the sources said. The lawyers planned to argue the constitutionality of holding a trial, since Trump is now a former president.
Disagreements about the strategy varied, sources told ABC News, but Trump wanted his team to argue that there was electoral fraud, while lawyers and some advisers to the former president wanted the focus to remain on the constitutionality of a trial without the president in office. .
A source close to the former president described the move as a “mutual decision” between the parties.
Trump was accused by the House on January 13 for a single article for “inciting insurrection” after the violent siege of the United States Capitol, which left a policeman and four others dead and left members of Congress and their teams fearing for their lives. lives. The uprising, which took place on January 6, was preceded by a demonstration by Trump, when he told his followers to go to the Capitol and repeatedly said they should fight for him.
“Democrats’ efforts to remove a president who has already stepped down are totally unconstitutional and very bad for our country. In fact, 45 senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We did a lot of work, but we haven’t made a final decision on our legal team, which will be formed soon, ”Trump spokesman Jason Miller told ABC News on Saturday.
The Senate trial is scheduled to begin the week of February 8. Two-thirds of the Senate – or 67 senators – would need to vote to condemn Trump to succeed. This means that 17 Republican senators would need to side with Democrats.
Sources believe there will be another round of additions to the team in the next few days, although the process is far from finished in just over a week. Many lawyers who worked or represented Trump during the last impeachment trial are refusing to defend him in the Senate.
Former Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, who represented him in his first impeachment trial, will not participate in this trial. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, also said he will not represent the former president after attending the same rally that preceded the Capitol siege on January 6.
The lawyers, in addition to Bowers, who will no longer represent Trump are Deborah Barbier, Josh Howard, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris.
Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., who urged Bowers to accept the case, told his colleagues in the Senate Republican Party on January 21 that Bowers would be representing Trump.
Senate Republicans called for a postponement of the trial, accepted by Democrats, after handing over the impeachment article for Trump to work with his legal team still in formation.
Mark Osborne of ABC News contributed to this report.