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Donald Trump abruptly separated himself from the two main lawyers working on his defense for his Senate impeachment trial, a source close to the situation said, leaving the former US president’s legal strategy in disarray.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two lawyers from South Carolina, are no longer on Trump’s team, the source said, describing the move as a “mutual decision.”
Three other lawyers associated with the team, Josh Howard of North Carolina and Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris of South Carolina, have also separated from Trump, another source said.
A third source said Trump had differences with Bowers over pre-trial strategy. The president still maintains that he was the victim of massive voter fraud in the November 3 election won by Joe Biden.
This leaves Trump’s defense team in turmoil as he prepares for a trial starting February 9 to consider an impeachment article passed by the House of Representatives accusing him of instigating his supporters to storm the United States Capitol on January 6.
It was unclear who would now represent the former president at trial. His White House lawyers in his first impeachment trial last year, Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin, are not expected to participate in the proceedings.
“The Democrats’ efforts to remove a president who has already left office are totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” said Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump.
“In fact, 45 senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We’ve done a lot of work, but haven’t made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly, ”Miller said.
Forty-five Senate Republicans backed a failed effort last Tuesday to end Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some have cited as a clear sign he will not be convicted of incitement to the insurrection on the Capitol.
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