Former President Donald Trump and his legal team split just over a week before his impeachment trial was scheduled to begin in the Senate on an indictment that sparked the Capitol riot earlier this month. , according to a report.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, known for defending a series of South Carolina politicians, left Trump’s team on Saturday, along with former federal prosecutors Greg Harris, Johnny Gasser and Josh Howard, Fox News reported Sunday.
The report cited a source who said it was a mutual decision on the direction of the defense argument.
The House indicted Trump on Jan. 13 on a charge of “inciting an insurrection” with 10 Republicans, including Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who was crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats.
The trial is scheduled to begin on February 9.
The former president was accused of shooting a crowd of supporters who attacked police officers and broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, smashing doors, smashing windows and entering the building. (…)
Five people died as a result of the chaos, including a Capitol Police officer who died from his injuries while trying to defend the federal building. (…)
New lawyers are expected to join the legal team to defend Trump in the Senate this week.
Bowers and the rest of the lawyers disagreed with Trump, who wanted them to base their defense on claims that the Nov. 3 presidential election was full of fraud and was stolen from him, the Associated Press reported.
President Biden was inaugurated on January 20th.
While the House voted to indict Trump for the second time, he is expected to be acquitted in the Senate because 17 Republicans are unlikely to vote to convict.
In all, 45 of the 50 Republicans in the Senate voted to withdraw the trial because it was unconstitutional, and claimed Trump is already out of office, which is the whole point of dismissal.