Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyers quit days before Senate trial
Donald Trump has abruptly parted ways with his lawyers with little over a week until his Senate impeachment trial, according to an inside source.
Donald Trump has abruptly parted ways with his lawyers with little over a week until his Senate impeachment trial, according to an inside source.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, two South Carolina lawyers, are no longer on Trump’s team, the source said. The source described the move as a ‘mutual decision.’
Three other lawyers associated with the team, Josh Howard of North Carolina and Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris of South Carolina, also parted ways with Trump, another source said.
A third source said Trump had differences with Bowers over strategy ahead of the trial.
The president is still claiming he was the victim of mass election fraud in the election won by President Joe Biden.
It leaves Trump’s defence team in turmoil as he prepares for a trial starting on February 9 to consider an article of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives charging him with inciting the January 6 storming of the US Capitol by his followers.
It was unclear who would now represent the former president at the trial.
His White House lawyers at his first impeachment trial last year, Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, are not expected to be a part of the proceedings.
‘The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,’ said Trump adviser Jason Miller.
‘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,’ Miller said.
Forty-five Senate Republicans backed a failed effort last Tuesday to halt Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some cited as a clear sign he will not be convicted of inciting insurrection at the Capitol.
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