WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump announced on Sunday that a former county prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney with civil rights experience will lead his impeachment defense team, the day after it was revealed that the former president had stepped down. separated from a previous group of lawyers.
The two Trump representatives will be defense attorney David Schoen, a frequent television legal commentator, and Bruce Castor, a former Pennsylvania district attorney who was criticized for his decision not to prosecute actor Bill Cosby in a sex crimes case .
Both lawyers issued statements through Trump’s office saying they were honored to accept the position.
“The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for all ages and that will triumph over partisanship once again, and always, ”said Castor, who served as district attorney in Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia, from 2000 to 2008.
The announcement on Sunday was intended to promote a sense of stability around Trump’s defense team as his impeachment trial approaches. Several South Carolina lawyers have been appointed to represent him at the trial, which begins the week of February 8.
Trump, the first president in American history to face two charges, is due to stand trial in the Senate on charges of inciting his supporters to invade Congress on January 6, when lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Republicans and Trump advisers have made it clear that they intend to present a simple argument at the trial: Trump’s trial is unconstitutional because he is no longer in office.
“Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already stepped down are totally unconstitutional and very bad for our country,” said Jason Miller, Trump adviser.
Many legal experts say there are no barriers to an impeachment trial, even though Trump has left the White House. One argument is that state constitutions prior to the United States Constitution allowed for impeachment after officials left office. Nor did the drafters of the Constitution specifically prohibit the practice.
Castor, a Republican who was elected district attorney for Pennsylvania’s third most populous county, decided not to indict Cosby at an alleged sexual encounter in 2004. He ran for office again in 2015, and his trial in the Cosby case was a key issue used against him for the Democrat who defeated him.
Castor said he personally thought Cosby should have been arrested, but that the evidence was not strong enough to prove the case beyond any reasonable doubt.
In 2004, Castor ran for state attorney general without success. In 2016, he became the chief lieutenant of the state’s attorney general – Kathleen Kane, a Democrat – while she faced charges of leaking protected investigative information to defame a rival and lie to a grand jury about it. She was convicted, leaving Castor as the state’s acting attorney general for a few days.
Schoen met with financier Jeffrey Epstein about joining his advocacy team on sex trafficking charges just days before Epstein killed himself in a New York prison. In an interview with the Atlanta Jewish Times last year, Schoen said he was approached by Trump associate Roger Stone before Stone’s trial and was later hired to handle his appeal. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence and then forgave him.
Neither Schoen nor Castor immediately returned phone messages asking for comment on Sunday night.
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Associated Press writers Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.