“The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history,” said Castor in Trump’s statement. “It is strong and resilient. A document written forever and that will triumph over partisanship once again, and always. “
A former Trump campaign advisor, Ted Goodman, will also be joining the team, who will be helping with communications and outreach on Capitol Hill, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The House passed an impeachment article against Trump on January 13 – seven days before he stepped down – after the January 6 uprising on Capitol Hill, which claimed five lives. The Senate refused to accept this article before Trump stepped down a week later, and most of the 50 Republicans later claimed that it is not constitutional for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial for a president who is no longer president.
In a Senate divided 50-50 along party lines, this makes it unlikely that Trump will be condemned. A conviction would prevent him, among other things, from seeking the presidency again.
Schoen, who is described as “an experienced lawyer,” recently represented Trump’s associate Roger Stone in a conviction appeal, joining the case in April 2020.
“He had some compelling problems to appeal that went right to the heart of constitutional rights in a fair trial,” said Schoen when Stone withdrew the appeal from his convictions, for which he was later pardoned by Trump.
Schoen also appeared in an investigative documentary called “Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein?” – and said he believed the pedophile-financier was murdered in prison in August 2019. Schoen met with Epstein days before his death, he told the Atlanta Jewish Times. He has a long history of defending clients in high-profile criminal cases, including figures in organized crime.
Castor is the former district attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He tried a series of high-profile homicide cases, but in 2005, he refused to prosecute actor-comedian Bill Cosby on charges of sexual assault. Castor would be harshly criticized after leaving the prosecutor’s office, when dozens of other women came forward to accuse Cosby, who is now in prison.
Beaver subsequently served as one of the county commissioners. Following the resignation of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, after she was convicted of perjury and abuse of power, Castor briefly served as the state’s interim attorney general in 2016.
The previous Sunday, one of Trump’s future jurors said he expected Trump’s defense to be based on the facts of January 6 and not to stick to other things that could paralyze the case.
“The evidence, as I understand it,” said Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), “Will focus on whether or not the president contributed to an atmosphere for people to charge Capitol, invade, threaten, if you will , both members of Congress and vice president [Mike] Pence. That is the charge. Therefore, I hope that any defense presented will refute this accusation. “
Gabby Orr and Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.