Trump Announces New Legal Defense Team for Senate Impeachment Trial

Former President Donald Trump announced a new legal defense team on Sunday that will handle his second Senate impeachment trial.

Lawyers David Schoen and Bruce Castor will be leading Trump's defense team, the announcement said. The impeachment trial will begin on February 9.

Fox News reported that the announcement came after Donald Trump parted ways with five of his impeachment lawyers just over a week before his Senate trial.

In a mutual decision, South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier and former federal prosecutors Greg Harris, Johnny Gasser, and Josh Howard left Trump's defense team on Saturday.

The source who confirmed the former defense team's departure said the lawyers might have left due to a difference of opinion on the direction of the team's argument.

Meanwhile, another source said they left because Donald Trump wanted them to make election fraud allegations during his senate trial.

Who Are The Lawyers in Donald Trump's Defense Team?

Schoen is a civil and criminal defense lawyer who frequented television legal commentating. Castor, on the other hand, was a former Pennsylvania district attorney. He declined to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005, who was convicted for sexual assault in 2018, after another prosecutor picked up the case, noted NBC News.

Both lawyers issued statements through Trump's office, saying they were honored to be part of the former president's legal team, reported The Associated Press.

The impeachment article against Donald Trump was delivered by the House to the Senate last week. It charged Trump with "incitement of insurrection" in connection to the fatal January 6 Capitol riot.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Donald Trump had to be held accountable for the riot. He called Trump's encouragement of his supporters "the most despicable thing any president has ever done."

Neither Schoen nor Castor gave immediate responses to phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment on Sunday evening.

Both Lawyers Believe Donald Trump's Impeachment is Unconstitutional

The lawyers have been preparing with other advisers and believe that the impeachment was unconstitutional.

"The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for the ages, and it will triumph over partisanship yet again, and always," said Castor.

Trump appeared to be certain that he could be acquitted, but that did not stop Republicans from debating the impeachment article, something that even his defense team did not miss.

In the statement, they noted that there were 45 Republican senators who voted to back their assertion. This was after Sen. Rand Paul brought forward his argument that the impeachment was unconstitutional because Trump was no longer in office.

The five remaining Republicans voted alongside Democrats to end the debate following Paul's argument. The Sunday announcement was set to promote a sense of stability on Trump's impeachment defense team as the trial drew near.

Donald Trump has been the first president in the history of the U.S. to face impeachment twice in the House of Representatives. If he gets convicted by the Senate, he would be prevented from holding federal office again.