Trump Impeachment Defense Squeezed by Team Remake on Judgment Eve

Photographer: Al Drago / Bloomberg

The last-minute remake of former President Donald Trump of his impeachment advocacy team leaves little time to prepare for the arguments that are scheduled to begin next week at the Senate trial on whether he incited the January 6 uprising in the US Capitol.

Trump announced Sunday night that lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor Jr. will head their defense after their previous lawyers led by South Carolina’s Butch Bowers withdrew, with Trump’s initial response to the impeachment charge scheduled for Tuesday and the trial scheduled to begin on February 9.

Bowers and the other lawyers representing Trump split after the former president wanted lawyers to argue that the November 3 election was stolen – an argument he has already lost in several lawsuits – instead of focusing on the constitutionality of judging a president who stepped down, CNN reported on Saturday, without citing its sources.

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.

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Losing his former legal team at the moment can be tricky for Trump, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said in Fox News Sunday.

“I always thought that the president did not have enough time to submit a reply,” he said. “That may make it even more insufficient.”

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University who spoke at a Republican summons last week before most senators voted that trying to get a president out of office is unconstitutional, said it is reasonable for Trump to seek a postponement of the trial to give the new ones. lawyers time to prepare if he wants to.

But it is not clear whether Democrats would agree to such a request. Senate Democrats have already postponed the start of the trial by two weeks to give President Joe Biden some time to set up his office.

Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe said that such a move would basically allow Trump to “run out of time” by hiring new lawyers.

“No competent judge would let a defendant play this type of game endlessly and essentially give the defendant control over the timing of the case,” said Tribe, a frequent critic of Trump.

The House Trump’s impeachment on a charge of inciting insurrection after he encouraged his supporters who rebelled at the United States Capitol on January 6 in an effort to stop the counting of Electoral College votes for Biden. Five people died in the chaos, including a policeman.

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 on a measure to declare the attempt unconstitutional – suggesting that it is unlikely that at least 17 would vote to convict.

Turley said he would advise Trump not to present a defense and inform the Senate in the initial response scheduled for Tuesday that he does not think the trial is constitutional. But that would probably be difficult for Trump, given his instincts to always fight back, said Turley, who also testified against Trump’s previous impeachment.

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.

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.

– With the help of Jennifer Jacobs