The hiring of Deborah Barbier, a lawyer with a reputation for dealing with controversial and high-profile clients, is South Carolina’s second lawyer to join. Last week, Trump announced that Butch Bowers, an experienced political lawyer who represented several Republican elected officials, including former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, would lead his legal team.
South Carolina’s legal team surprised some lawyers, even those from Palmetto state, but underscores the overwhelming influence of one of Trump’s most loyal allies, Lindsey Graham, the state’s senior Republican senator, who recommended Bowers to Trump. He also highlights the challenges that Trump was facing in building a legal team, as his previous lawyers turned away from him.
“He certainly couldn’t do better than Debbie. She is an incredibly capable, skilled and experienced criminal attorney who is used to handling very important cases with controversial clients. He could never do better than Debbie,” said E. Paul Gibson , vice president of the state commission, who confirmed the email.
Barbier spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor in South Carolina before opening his own criminal defense firm. Barbier represented several high-profile clients, including a Republican consultant involved in a lobbying case and a friend of Dylan Roof, who was convicted of murdering nine people in 2015 at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
The appointment comes as Trump is struggling to build his legal defense. In particular, loyal Rudy Giuliani has not been able to represent Trump since he spoke on January 6, inciting the pro-Trump crowd before they invaded the U.S. Capitol. Others who worked on Trump’s previous impeachment team refused to work on the second team.
Large law firms also rejected the former president because of the stigma of the insurrection and fearing the loss of clients, several lawyers told CNN.
“Large companies have many customers who would say, ‘Let’s get our business out of you’. I don’t think Butch Bowers or Debbie Barbier have that concern, “said Robert Foster, a partner of Nelson Mullins in Columbia, where Bowers was a former partner.
Another imminent question is whether Trump will pay lawyers. Three lawyers who spoke to CNN said it was not clear whether Trump was trying to retain lawyers on a pro bono basis and not pay them employees or hourly fees. All three lawyers said they refused to be part of the defense team, at least in part because of this problem.
Graham on Tuesday referred questions about the payment to Trump.
“You will need to ask them that. I’m sure they are being paid.”
Foster said the legal community is talking about who else can join the impeachment case. When news came up late Monday afternoon about Barbier’s appointment, he said, “Our first thought was, ‘What’s in South Carolina?'”
He said the response to the email announcing Barbier’s hiring was, unsurprisingly, mixed.
“They congratulated her overwhelmingly because of her stellar reputation. They were overwhelming in that regard, they were divided on many other issues,” said Foster. “As with anything else with Trump, you will have 51% of people on one side and 49% on the other.”