All the five lawyers who were expected to represent former President Donald Trump have called it quits according to reports
The team, led by South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers, resigned in part because of disagreements over how to mount Trump’s defense, the sources said. The lawyers had planned to argue the constitutionality of holding a trial given Trump is now a former president.
Many attorneys who worked with or represented Trump during the last impeachment trial are declining to defend him in the Senate.
Trump’s former top lawyer, Jay Sekulow, who represented him at his first impeachment trial, will not be taking part in this trial. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, also said he will not be representing the former president after appearing at the same rally that preceded the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier who were expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team. A source familiar with the changes said it was a mutual decision for both to leave the legal team. As the lead attorney, Bowers assembled the team.
The attorneys in addition to Bowers and Deborah who will no longer be representing Trump are Josh Howard, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris. No other attorneys have announced they are working on Trump’s impeachment defense.
Trump was impeached by the House on Jan. 13 on a single article for “incitement of insurrection” following the vuolent siege on the US capitol that left one police officer and four others dead and left members of Congress and their staffs fearing for their lives. The insurrection, which took place Jan. 6, was preceded by a Trump rally when he told his followers to head to the Capitol and repeatedly said they should fight for him.
