With the Senate Democrats’ impeachment trial set to start in just over a week, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Co. plan to remove private citizen Donald Trump from an office he no longer holds, there are reports that the former president’s entire legal team has departed the case.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the departure of two lead attorneys, Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, was a “mutual” decision — Bowers’ participation was just announced on January 21.
Jason Miller, a spokesperson for Trump, downplayed the reports, responding to an ABC News reporter tweeting that the legal team “is still in limbo with just a little over a week until trial start” to say that a “final decision” was still being made on legal representation.
“[Democrat] efforts to impeach a [president] who has already left office is unconstitutional [and] so bad for our country,” Miller tweeted. “In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly.”
Dem. efforts to impeach a pres. who has already left office is unconstitutional & so bad for our country. In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly. https://t.co/OQIugh0A8F
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) January 31, 2021
In total, according to the reports, five attorneys left over a disagreement in Trump’s legal strategy.
CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins tweeted that Trump “wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and it was stolen from him rather than focus on proposed arguments about constitutionality.”
A third attorney, Josh Howard, who was also recently added to Trump’s defense team, has also left, I’m told. Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and it was stolen from him rather than focus on proposed arguments about constitutionality.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 31, 2021
In addition to Howard, who was recently added to the team, CNN cited the standard anonymous sources to report attorneys Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris are no longer involved with the case, either.
Not to be outdone, the New York Times is reporting that Trump bandied about the possibility of representing himself at the potentially unconstitutional Senate trial — imagine the spectacle of Donald Trump in the Senate well, facing down Schumer.
“Mr. Trump has insisted that the case is ‘simple’ and has told advisers he could argue it himself and save the money on lawyers,” the Times reported, adding that his aides did not believe the ex-president was “seriously contemplating” representing himself.
NY Times columnist Maggie Haberman tweeted that former aide Steve Bannon was telling Trump to at least partially represent himself.
“Bannon, who was talking to Trump ahead of his departure from DC and the day Trump went back and forth on pardoning him, is encouraging him to go to the Senate himself. ‘He’s the only one who can sell it,'” she tweeted.
Bannon, who was talking to Trump ahead of his departure from DC and the day Trump went back and forth on pardoning him, is encouraging him to go to the senate himself. “He’s the only one who can sell it.”
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 31, 2021
While Haberman added that it’s “unclear” who is now on Trump’s legal team, with 45 Republican senators effectively saying the trial is a violation of the U.S. Constitution — this being enough of the jury pool to prevent conviction — why pay expensive lawyers.
If you’re Trump this is rather a no brainer. With Senate Rs aka the jury on record that impeaching former president is unconstitutional why spend money on lawyers ? https://t.co/VSgLRBoAPg
— Janet Mullins Grissom (@JMullinsGrissom) January 31, 2021
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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