Trump Parts Ways With Five Lawyers Handling
Impeachment Defense
The departures, which include his lead lawyer, Butch
Bowers, come more than a week before his Senate trial is set to begin.
Maggie Haberman
By Maggie
Haberman
Jan. 30,
2021
Former
President Donald J. Trump has abruptly parted ways with five lawyers handling
his impeachment defense, just over a week before the Senate trial is set to
begin, people familiar with the situation said on Saturday.
Those
departures include his lead lawyer, Butch Bowers, whose hiring was announced
last week, a person familiar with the situation said. Four other lawyers who
were reported to be joining, including Deborah Barbier, a criminal defense
lawyer in South Carolina, are also leaving, according to multiple people
familiar with the situation.
Mr. Trump
had pushed for his defense team to focus on his baseless claim that the
election was stolen from him, one person familiar with the situation said. A
person close to Mr. Trump disputed that that was the case but acknowledged that
there were differences in opinion about the defense strategy. However, Mr.
Trump has insisted that the case is “simple” and has told advisers he could
argue it himself and save the money on lawyers. (Aides contend he is not
seriously contemplating doing so.)
The
decision for Mr. Bowers to leave was “mutual,” another person familiar with the
situation said, adding that Mr. Trump and Mr. Bowers had no chemistry, a
quality the former president generally prizes in his relationships. Mr. Trump
prefers lawyers who are eager to appear on television to say that he never did
anything wrong; Mr. Bowers has been noticeably absent in the news media since
his hiring was announced.
Jason
Miller, a Trump adviser, said that the former president and his aides had “not
made a final decision on our legal team.”
Mr. Bowers
is the only lawyer whom Mr. Trump’s aides had confirmed would defend the former
president. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Mr. Trump’s who represents
South Carolina, was said to have helped line up Mr. Bowers, a well-known figure
in the political world there who was working to establish a broader team.
The
departures of Mr. Bowers and Ms. Barbier were previously reported by CNN. A
third lawyer, Josh Howard, of North Carolina, is also no longer part of the
team, another person familiar with the situation said. And two other lawyers
from South Carolina, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, will also no longer be
involved, one of the people familiar with the situation said.
Mr. Trump
is due to file a response to the House charges by Tuesday.
The
question of who will represent Mr. Trump in his Senate trial has vexed him and
his advisers since it became clear that he would become the first American
president to be impeached twice.
This month,
Democrats in the House, joined by 10 Republicans, charged Mr. Trump with
“incitement of insurrection” for his role in instigating a violent mob that
stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress convened to affirm President Biden’s
victory in the November election.
During
various investigations while he was in office, Mr. Trump has struggled to find
— or retain — lawyers to defend him, and the announcement of Mr. Bowers’s
hiring capped weeks of frantic searching.
Mr. Trump’s
lawyers from his impeachment trial last year are not expected to be involved
this time. They include Jay Sekulow, the former White House counsel Pat A.
Cipollone and his deputy, Pat Philbin, and another lawyer who worked in the
West Wing, Eric Herschmann.
Rudolph W.
Giuliani, who worked as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer during the special
counsel’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign in 2016 had colluded
with Russian officials, has made no secret of wanting to defend Mr. Trump in
the second impeachment trial.
But Mr.
Giuliani is a potential witness because he spoke at a rally of Trump supporters
on Jan. 6, hours before hundreds marched to the Capitol and rioted. Almost all
of Mr. Trump’s advisers blame Mr. Giuliani, who encouraged Mr. Trump’s desire
to find ways to overturn the election results and to call their legitimacy into
question, for the latest impeachment.
They also
blame him in part for Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, which was driven by the
former president’s interest in pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden
family. Mr. Giuliani repeatedly encouraged Mr. Trump to believe baseless
allegations related to Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, and his business activities in
Ukraine.
The second
impeachment trial is set to begin on Feb. 9. This week, 45 Republican senators
voted in support of a measure brought forward by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky
calling the trial unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office.
That all but five Republican senators voted to challenge the constitutionality
of the trial suggested a likely acquittal for Mr. Trump.
Democrats
have pushed back, noting that Mr. Trump was impeached by the House while still
in office.
Still, the
question of constitutionality is likely to be a key part of Mr. Trump’s
defense. And his advisers were buoyed by the show of Republican support for the
Paul measure, believing it was an indication that Mr. Trump would be spared a
conviction.
The Senate
needs a two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, to convict Mr. Trump, meaning 17
Republicans would need to cross party lines to side with Democrats in finding
him guilty. An additional vote, this one requiring a simple majority, would be
needed to disqualify him from holding office again. Still, most of his aides
say they doubt he will run for office again.
Donald Trump's impeachment defence in disarray as
lead lawyers quit – reports
Butch Bowers clashed with Trump over strategy,
according to reports, and leaves along with Deborah Barberi and three others
Reuters
Sun 31 Jan
2021 05.22 GMT
Donald
Trump has abruptly parted ways with the two lead lawyers working on his defence
for his Senate impeachment trial, a source familiar with the situation said,
leaving the former US president’s legal strategy in disarray.
Butch
Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two South Carolina lawyers, are no longer on
Trump’s team, the source said, describing 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 contending that he was the victim of mass election fraud
in the 3 November election won by Joe Biden.
It leaves
Trump’s defence team in turmoil as he prepares for a trial starting on 9
February to consider an article of impeachment passed by the House of
Representatives charging him with inciting his supporters to storm the US
Capitol on 6 January.
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 Jason Miller, a
Trump adviser.
“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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