Former President Donald Trump and his legal team split a little more than a week before his Senate impeachment trial began on the charge that he incited the Capitol riot earlier this month, according to a report.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, known for defending a number of South Carolina politicians, left the Trump team on Saturday, along with former federal prosecutors Greg Harris, Johnny Gasser and Josh Howard, Fox News reported on Sunday.
The report quoted a source as saying it was a mutual decision on the direction of the defense argument.
The House charged Trump on January 13 on charges of “inciting an insurrection” with 10 Republicans, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats.
The trial is scheduled to begin on February 9.
The former president was accused of shooting a crowd of his supporters who invaded police and invaded the Capitol on January 6, breaking down doors, breaking windows and entering the building.
Five people died as a result of the chaos, including a Capitol police officer who died from his injuries while trying to defend the federal building.
New lawyers are expected to join the legal team to defend Trump in the Senate this week.
Bowers and the other lawyers disagreed with Trump, who wanted them to base their defense on allegations that the November 3 presidential election was fraught with fraud and was stolen from him, the Associated Press reported.
President Biden was sworn in on January 20.
Although the House voted to impeach Trump for the second time, he must be acquitted in the Senate because 17 Republicans are unlikely to vote to condemn.
In total, 45 of the 50 Republicans in the Senate voted to reject the trial for being unconstitutional, citing that Trump is already fired, which is the whole point of impeachment.