The former president says David Schoen and Bruce Castor will now lead his defense to allegations of “incitement to rebellion”.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump has hired two new lawyers to head his defense team for his second historic lawsuit, which is set to begin next week.
Trump’s news comes after reports that he abruptly parted ways with several of his impeachment lawyers.
Lawyers David Schoen and Bruce Castor will lead the defense effort in the trial that began in the U.S. Senate Feb. 9, the Trump office said in a statement. Schoen had already been helping Trump and advisers prepare for the proceedings, according to the former president’s office.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two lawyers in South Carolina, are no longer on Trump’s team, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters news agency Saturday. The source described the event as a “decision”.
Castor has focused on criminal law throughout his life, while Schoen specializes in “Alabama civil rights lawsuit and federal criminal defense work, including white collars and multi-case laws. another complex, in New York, “the statement said.
Trump, who left office Jan. 20, is facing a lawsuit that he incited the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an effort to prevent his election loss to President Joe Biden. He plans to submit a file in response to the impeachment charges Tuesday.
The historic lawsuit is two-sided, marking the first time a president has been inducted twice and the first time the former president of the United States has challenged a case -law like this.
Schoen had already worked with the defense team, and he and Castor agreed “that this impeachment is illegal,” the statement said.
Schoen previously represented former Trump adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in November 2019 of lying under oath to lawmakers examining Russia’s ban in the 2016 election. Trump forgave him Stone in December 2020.
Castor is a Pennsylvania district attorney known for his decision not to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005 after a woman was accused by Cosby of sexual assault. In 2017, Castor sued Cosby’s accuser in the defamation case, claiming she ruined her political career in retaliation. Cosby, 83, is now serving a sentence of three to 10 years after being found guilty in a 2018 lawsuit of drugging and raping a friend online at his 2004 home. .
Trump has been struggling to create a defense ahead of his historic lawsuit, facing new hurdles with just days to go.
But with just five Republicans joining the 50 Democrats this week in agreeing that the trial should go ahead, it looks like 17 Republicans will not vote against Trump, the most less necessary to reach the two-thirds threshold for condemnation.