First there were five. Now there are none.

31 January 2021, 09:51 AM

quote:
Former President Donald Trump's five impeachment defense attorneys have left a little more than a week before his trial is set to begin, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement over his legal strategy.

It was a dramatic development in the second impeachment trial for Trump, who has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case. And now, with legal briefs due next week and a trial set to begin only days later, Trump is clinging to his election fraud charade and suddenly finds himself without legal representation.

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.

Josh Howard, a North Carolina attorney who was recently added to the team, has also left, according to another source familiar with the changes. Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, from South Carolina, are no longer involved with the case, either.
No other attorneys have announced they are working on Trump's impeachment defense.

A person familiar with the departures told CNN 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 not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard.

The attorneys had not yet been paid any advance fees and a letter of intent was never signed.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/30...ment-team/index.html

quote:
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.)

The decision for Mr. Bowers to leave was “mutual,” 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.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...ers-impeachment.html

31 January 2021, 09:56 AM

rontuner

I wish they would get Trump to testify under oath...

31 January 2021, 11:19 AM

ShiroKuro

quote:
Mr. Trump has insisted that the case is “simple” and has told advisers he could argue it himself and save the money on lawyers.

Ah what fun that would be!!

Eventually I imagine he'll find some lawyers with no morals, scruples, or professionalism who will be happy to take the case...

31 January 2021, 11:30 AM

Cindysphinx

Man. This is playing out exactly as I expected.

Had the Dems simply ignored Trump, no one would be thinking about him right now. He would be out of office, fighting lawsuits, muzzled by Twitter and every other platform. His base would have to settle for licking their wounds, while the rest of us could Move On Already.

Instead, they impeached with no hope of removing Trump from office or being able to convict in the Senate, with the Dems stuck trying to explain the academic arguments about why you would bother impeaching someone who is no longer in office. Now Trump gets a megaphone he wouldn't have had absent impeachment.

And Trump can use that megaphone to stand in front of the Senate and give one of his rally speeches, with cheering crowds assembled in Washington and around the country, energized that their Dear Leader is back in the public eye, basking in attention. There will surely be loss of life, and their movement lives on.

Then when Trump is not convicted, he can wave the headlines around like last time and proclaim victory, denouncing the whole proceeding as a political witch hunt.

When will the Dems ever learn to play the game? Not in my lifetime, apparently.

31 January 2021, 11:39 AM

Mikhailoh

There might have been an opportunity to convict had they not been trying to do this for five solid years, even failing at their last impeachment.

Cindy is right.

31 January 2021, 11:43 AM

wtg

He would never be impeached. The GOP doesn't have the guts to stand up to him. That's already been demonstrated.

And Cindy is right.

I'm not sure I understand the argument about "five solid years". The GOP was after Clinton forever and finally got Bill on a technicality. Equivalent would be the Dems trying to impeach Trump for paying off Stormy Daniels. At least the Ukraine thing and Jan 6 have something to do with governing.

Bill managed to have a fairly successful presidency despite everything thrown at him. Trump whined, lied, and bullied his way through his.

And what about the four Benghazi investigations? The Clinton Foundation investigations? Whitewater? Email servers?

Shouldn't be that way, but at least let's be honest that both sides are taking the same approach. Trump didn't face anything his predecessors didn't....

31 January 2021, 12:32 PM

Axtremus

quote:
Originally posted by Cindysphinx:

Had the Dems simply ignored Trump, no one would be thinking about him right now.

Wishful thinking. If not this, Trump and his hardcore base will find something else to keep Trump in the spotlight.

31 January 2021, 12:33 PM

Axtremus

quote:
And what about the four Benghazi investigations?

For sure the Jan.6 Capitol incident deserve even more thorough investigations than Benghazi.

31 January 2021, 12:46 PM

Piano*Dad

The Dems ARE playing the game. It's just not the game that Cindy wants them to play. The Dems are insuring that either the GOP splits, or it becomes the extremist organization the Lincoln Project and other Never Trumper types have told us that it has well and truly become (with no going back). Then Mik and others get to vote for guys like Jim Jordan as his next Senator because ethical centrists have been completely extirpated within the GOP.

31 January 2021, 02:13 PM

pianojuggler

Guiliani and Powell, Attorneys at Law. Lin Wood, of Counsel.

And I-1 will never pay them.

And, yeah. I-1 needs to testify under oath. In person. He has nothing better to do, so he can’t complain he’s too busy running the country. I’d bet a nickel he’ll perjure himself.

31 January 2021, 10:37 PM

Lisa

Apparently he got 2 new ones, one of whom, Bruce Castor, is my county's ex-DA. He's an ass whose most notable achievement as DA was refusing to prosecute Bill Cosby for drugging and taking advantage of women. He later served as one of 3 county commissioners, where he pretty much just whined the whole time because he was the minority party and the other 2 (democrats) were mean to him. He's been out of the public eye ever since, so I'm not surprised that he'd see Trump as his way to weasel himself back into the spotlight. Two losers who deserve each other.

01 February 2021, 02:04 AM

AdagioM

quote:
Originally posted by Lisa:
Apparently he got 2 new ones, one of whom, Bruce Castor, is my county's ex-DA. He's an ass whose most notable achievement as DA was refusing to prosecute Bill Cosby for drugging and taking advantage of women. He later served as one of 3 county commissioners, where he pretty much just whined the whole time because he was the minority party and the other 2 (democrats) were mean to him. He's been out of the public eye ever since, so I'm not surprised that he'd see Trump as his way to weasel himself back into the spotlight. Two losers who deserve each other.

I wonder if he’ll get paid.