Trump loses top impeachment lawyers a week before trial, sources say

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump split from his top impeachment lawyers just over a week before his trial, two people familiar with the situation said on Saturday. The move injects a new uncertainty into the composition and strategy of its defense team.

Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, both lawyers in South Carolina, left the defense team in what one person described as a “mutual decision” that reflected a difference of opinion about the direction of the case.

The two people familiar with the legal team’s discussions insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. One said that new additions to the legal team should be announced in a day or two.

Bowers and Barbier did not immediately return messages asking for comment.

Trump is due to stand trial in the week of February 8 on charges of inciting the riot inside the United States Capitol. Republicans and Trump advisers have made it clear that they intend to make a simple argument: the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.

CNN was the first to report the lawyers’ departure.