Trump loses the main prosecution lawyers a week before the trial, according to sources

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump has broken away from his top removal lawyers just over a week before his trial, two people familiar with the situation said Saturday. The change injects new uncertainty into the composition and strategy of his defense team.

Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, both South Carolina attorneys, have left the defense team in what one person described as a “mutual decision” that reflected a difference of opinion about the direction of the case.

The two people familiar with the legal team’s discussions insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. One said he was expected to announce new additions to the legal team in a day or two.

Bowers and Barbier did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Trump will have to be tried the week of Feb. 8 on a charge of inciting rioting inside the U.S. Capitol. Republicans and Trump aides have made it clear that they intend to make a simple argument: the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.

CNN was the first to report the lawyers’ departure.