Trump’s Impeachment Defense Lawyers Fire Their Client (Updated)

When the nation moved to “no fault divorce” many years ago, the law settled on “irreconcilable differences” as a generic reason for filing for divorce.

Donald Trump’s impeachment defense lawyers just fired their client because he wanted them to do something unethical that could cost them their law license and livelihood, but the New York Times takes the “irreconcilable differences” approach to gloss over the dispute with today’s headline, Trump Parts Ways With Five Lawyers Handling Impeachment Defense:

Former President Donald J. Trump has abruptly parted ways with five lawyers handling his impeachment defense, just over a week before the Senate trial is set to begin, people familiar with the situation said on Saturday.

Those departures include his lead lawyer, Butch Bowers, whose hiring was announced last week, a person familiar with the situation said. Four other lawyers who were reported to be joining, including Deborah Barbier, a criminal defense lawyer in South Carolina, are also leaving, according to multiple people familiar with the situation.

Mr. Trump had pushed for his defense team to focus on his baseless claim that the election was stolen from him, one person familiar with the situation said. A person close to Mr. Trump disputed that that was the case but acknowledged that there were differences in opinion about the defense strategy. However, Mr. Trump has insisted that the case is “simple” and has told advisers he could argue it himself and save the money on lawyers. (Aides contend he is not seriously contemplating doing so.)

There is the old adage in criminal trials that describes a person who represents himself at trial: “He has a fool for a client.”

UPDATE: The Washington Post confirms,Trump’s legal team exited after he urged defense to focus on false election claims.

The decision for Mr. Bowers to leave was “mutual” [see, “irreconcilable differences”] another person familiar with the situation said, adding that Mr. Trump and Mr. Bowers had no chemistry, a quality the former president generally prizes in his relationships. Mr. Trump prefers lawyers who are eager to appear on television to say that he never did anything wrong; Mr. Bowers has been noticeably absent in the news media since his hiring was announced.

Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, said that the former president and his aides had “not made a final decision on our legal team.”

Mr. Bowers is the only lawyer whom Mr. Trump’s aides had confirmed would defend the former president. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Mr. Trump’s who represents South Carolina, was said to have helped line up Mr. Bowers, a well-known figure in the political world there who was working to establish a broader team.

Note: Four of the five lawyers are  from South Carolina, recruited by Trump Fluffer Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who clearly cannot be an “Impartial juror” as he swore an oath to last week. He should be required to recuse himself.

The departures of Mr. Bowers and Ms. Barbier were previously reported by CNN. A third lawyer, Josh Howard, of North Carolina, is also no longer part of the team, another person familiar with the situation said. And two other lawyers from South Carolina, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, will also no longer be involved, one of the people familiar with the situation said.

Mr. Trump is due to file a response to the House charges by Tuesday.

The question of who will represent Mr. Trump in his Senate trial has vexed him and his advisers since it became clear that he would become the first American president to be impeached twice.

What? Is the “Krazy Kraken Lady” Sidney Powell not available? She has already done what Trump asked these lawyers to do (and faces possible disbarment for it). what about her Kraken sidekick, Lin Wood? Lin Wood Says Georgia State Bar Told Him His Law License Is in Danger Unless He Takes Mental Health Exam. Sounds perfect to represent Mad King Donald!

During various investigations while he was in office, Mr. Trump has struggled to find — or retain — lawyers to defend him, and the announcement of Mr. Bowers’s hiring capped weeks of frantic searching.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers from his impeachment trial last year are not expected to be involved this time. They include Jay Sekulow, the former White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone and his deputy, Pat Philbin, and another lawyer who worked in the West Wing, Eric Herschmann.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, who worked as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer during the special counsel’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign in 2016 had colluded with Russian officials, has made no secret of wanting to defend Mr. Trump in the second impeachment trial.

But Mr. Giuliani is a potential witness [and co-defendant in a criminal trial] because he spoke at a rally of Trump supporters on Jan. 6, hours before hundreds marched to the Capitol and rioted. Almost all of Mr. Trump’s advisers blame Mr. Giuliani, who encouraged Mr. Trump’s desire to find ways to overturn the election results and to call their legitimacy into question, for the latest impeachment.

They also blame him in part for Mr. Trump’s first impeachment, which was driven by the former president’s interest in pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family. Mr. Giuliani repeatedly encouraged Mr. Trump to believe baseless allegations related to Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, and his business activities in Ukraine.

Oh wait, this is where it gets interesting. Rudy Giuliani Desperately Tried to Pin Pro-Trump Capitol Siege on the Lincoln Project, and the Lincoln Project Threatens Lawsuit After Rudy Giuliani Falsely Links Group To Capitol Riot:

The Lincoln Project is gearing up to sue Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he falsely linked the organization to the storming of the Capitol, Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt said Saturday.

The group’s attorney sent a letter Saturday warning of a lawsuit unless Giuliani publicly apologizes for his baseless accusations.

“You committed a textbook case of defamation,” said the letter sent by Matthew Sanderson. “You publicly accused The Lincoln Project of an infamous and criminal act it had nothing to do with, as you very well knew. You lied.”

Sanderson gave Giuliani until Feb. 3 to “retract your statement fully and to apologize to The Lincoln Project. Refuse at your peril.” The letter instructed Giuliani to save all documentation “related to the matter,” which would presumably be used in a lawsuit against him. 

The Lincoln Project’s legal response to the false and defamatory statements made by Rudy Giuliani. pic.twitter.com/MshgYIMC69

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) January 30, 2021

Last week, Dominion Voting Systems sued Giuliani for $1.3 billion over ‘Big Lie’ about election fraud.

Donald Trump sure knows how to pick a lawyer, doesn’t he? The disreputable and disbarred Roy Cohn, then convicted felon Michael Cohen, and now the soon-to-be disbarred Rudy Giuliani. New York State Bar Association Launches Historic Inquiry Into Removing Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani From Its Membership.

Bottom feeding sewer dwellers just naturally seem to find one another.

UPDATE: Donald Trump on Sunday named two lawyers to his impeachment defense team, one day after it was revealed that the former president had parted ways with an earlier set of attorneys,” the AP reports.

The two lawyers representing him will be David Schoen, a criminal defense lawyer with offices in Alabama and New York, and Bruce Castor, a former county prosecutor in Pennsylvania. Both issued statements through a Trump adviser saying that they were honored to take the job.

Never heard of either one. Time to run a background check, media. See above comment.

UPDATE: Heather Digby Parton reports at Salon, that David Schoen is Roger Stone’s former attorney, and evidently already working with Trump. He will assume the lead counsel role. Schoen describes himself as someone who has represented “reputed mobster figures: alleged head of Russian mafia in this country, Israeli mafia and two Italian bosses.” Now he’s representing “Mafia Don” Trump.

Bruce Castor is a former DA from Pennsylvania best known for refusing to prosecute Bill Cosby. Castor was evidently once an up and coming Republican politician in the state of Pennsylvania but his Cosby decision derailed his career when he turned to mush on the witness stand.

Both Schoen and Castor have reputations for theatricality. In Schoen’s case, that’s a literal description since he studied at the Actor’s Studio in New York and has recently acted in a docudrama about the late accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whom he met with just days before Epstein committed suicide.

Some quality individuals there. According to the news release announcing their hiring, they both believe that that the trial is unconstitutional (they are wrong).

POLITICO’s Playbook: “This presents a serious conundrum for the Senate: They have to give Trump due process, but if he goes out and hires attorneys to make the arguments he wants, the chamber could find itself giving a platform to the very conspiracy theories that led to the deadly Jan. 6 riot.”