Former President Donald Trump finally found lawyers to represent him during his Senate impeachment trial: a former prosecutor who refused to charge Bill Cosby and an Alabama lawyer with links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Bruce Castor and David Schoen will replace no fewer than five other lawyers who split from Trump because of the strategy days before his trial for inciting the crowd that invaded the United States Capitol on January 6.
Trump allegedly wanted previous lawyers to repeat his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him – the same charge that led his supporters to carry out the deadly uprising.
It is not clear whether the new lawyers plan to use this strategy.
“It is an honor to represent the 45th president, Donald J. Trump, and the United States Constitution,” said Schoen in a statement. statement released by Trump.
Castor added: “The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history.”
From 2002 to 2008, Castor served as a Republican district attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where he made the decision not to prosecute Cosby when Andrea Constand first accused the comedian of sexual assault, alleging lack of evidence.
Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby, and Castor’s successor brought charges against him. Cosby’s team tried to dismiss the case by arguing that Castor had made a deal that if the comedian testified in the civil case, the depositions would not be used against him in the criminal court.
Cosby ended up on trial twice, was convicted and is in prison. Constand sued Castor for defamation in a case that was settled out of court, and the ex-DA filed a personal injury lawsuit against the victim of sexual assault, arguing that Constand led him to lose a 2015 bid for the DA. This case was closed.
Schoen is a veteran lawyer who represented federal criminal defendants, including Trump’s friend Roger Stone, and plaintiffs in cases of police misconduct and civil rights.
He recently made headlines for meeting pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein before his death in prison; Schoen said Epstein wanted him to lead his defense team.
Trump’s trial is scheduled to begin the week of February 8. If two-thirds of the senators vote to condemn him, the Senate could vote by simple majority to prevent him from running for office again.
However, on January 26, 45 senators voted that the trial would be unconstitutional, making it unlikely that there will be enough Republicans voting to condemn.