Why did Donald Trump's lawyers quit? Here's why his defense team left less than 2 weeks before impeachment trial
Former president Donald Trump is once again in the news. Trump parted ways with five impeachment defense attorneys including South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers, who was expected to be the lead attorney, and Deborah Barbier just over a week before his Senate trial is set to begin. The striking last-minute shifts add further uncertainty over Trump's legal strategy and highlight the struggle the former president has had in corralling a legal team after he became the first president in US history to be impeached twice.
Bowers and Barbier, expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team. Jason Miller, a political adviser to the former president, said it was a mutual decision for both to leave the legal team. As the lead attorney, Bowers had assembled the team.
The Associated Press reported two others who were expected on the legal team, South Carolina law firm partners Greg Harris and Johnny Gasser, were also no longer expected to defend Trump in the Senate trial, though additions were expected to be announced in the coming days. Josh Howard, a North Carolina attorney who was recently added to the team, has also left.
"The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country," Miller said. "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.”
According to a CNN report, a person familiar with the departures told the outlet that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office. Trump was reportedly not open to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard. Trump's trial will start in earnest in a little more than one week and it's unclear who will represent him. Trump is set to stand trial the week of February 8 on charges that he incited his supporters to storm the Capitol before Joe Biden’s inauguration as the president.