A Trump impeachment trial, or bust
Democrats insist, despite little chance of a conviction.
Former President Donald Trump parted ways with five of his impeachment lawyers just over a week before his Senate trial is set to begin, Fox News has confirmed.
South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier and former federal prosecutors Greg Harris, Johnny Gasser and Josh Howard had left the defense team by Saturday, a source said, calling it a mutual decision.
The source said the lawyers left over a difference of opinion on the direction of the defense’s argument.
Fast Facts
- South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier have left the defense team, a source said.
- Trump was impeached earlier this month for “incitement of insurrection” over the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots.
South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier have left the defense team, a source said.
Trump was impeached earlier this month for “incitement of insurrection” over the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots.
New additions were expected to join in the week ahead.
Another anonymous source told the Associated Press Bowers and Barbier left because Trump wanted them to make election fraud allegations during the trial.
The upheaval injected fresh uncertainty into the makeup and strategy of Trump’s defense team as he prepared to face charges that he incited the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Trump was all but certain to be acquitted, however, because 45 out of 50 Republicans in the Senate voted earlier this month to dismiss the trial on a point of order brought forward by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
The remaining five Republicans voted with Democrats to end debate on Paul’s motion that argued Trump’s impeachment trial is unconstitutional because he’s no longer in office.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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