Former President Donald Trump
Photographer: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump has announced that two lawyers will assume the role of representing him in his impeachment trial, after separating from his previous defense team.
Lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor Jr. will head his impeachment defense, the former president announced Sunday night. His previous lawyers, including South Carolina’s Butch Bowers, left this weekend, leaving the president unrepresented just a week before his trial began.
Schoen has already worked with Trump and other advisers to prepare for the trial, and both Schoen and Castor agree that the impeachment is unconstitutional, Trump said in the statement.
Former White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Eric Herschmann are still in contact with Trump, but will not take an official role in his defense, said two people familiar with the matter.
Schoen has previously represented Trump adviser Roger Stone and the victims of terrorism under the Anti-Terrorism Act, according to Trump’s office. He is active in the United States, focusing on civil rights litigation in Alabama and federal criminal defense work, including white collar cases in New York, the statement said. Schoen appeared on Fox News, including for discuss the case of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Castor was a district attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, from 2000 to 2008 and subsequently was elected twice Montgomery County Commissioner, according to the statement. Castor also served as Pennsylvania Attorney General and Interim Attorney General.
The measures come as the former president faces Tuesday’s deadline to file an initial response to the impeachment charge, and the trial is scheduled to begin on February 9.
Citing unnamed sources, CNN reported on Saturday that Bowers and the other lawyers representing Trump split up after the former president wanted lawyers to argue that the November 3 election had been stolen from him by massive fraud, an argument he has already lost in several legal disputes. . Lawyers prefer to focus on the constitutionality of the impeachment of a president who has already stepped down.
The House Trump’s impeachment on a charge of inciting insurrection after he encouraged his supporters who rebelled at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 in an effort to stop the counting of Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden. Five people died in the chaos, including a policeman.
Out of office
Democrats joined 10 Republicans, including House Republican No. 3, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, in support of impeachment.
Trump’s allies argued that a president who is no longer in office cannot be impeached, and 45 Republican senators voted last week for a measure to declare the attempt unconstitutional, suggesting that it is unlikely that at least 17 would vote to convict.
Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that while Trump’s actions were “inexcusable”, he is keeping an open mind as a juror and the constitutionality of a former impeachment president should be considered.
“If the argument is not about issues like constitutionality, which are real issues and need to be addressed, I don’t think it will benefit the president,” said Portman, who announced last week that he will not seek re-election in 2022.
On Fox News Sunday, GOP Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said that if the evidence presented is that Trump “contributed to an atmosphere for people to attack the Capitol” and threaten members of Congress, “I would hope that any defense presented refutes this accusation. “
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