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By: Reuters | Washington |
January 31, 2021 9:57:43 am
Although the Constitution calls on the chief justice to preside over presidential impeachment trials, a senator presides when the impeached is not the current president, a Senate source said. (Reuters File) Former U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly parted ways on Saturday with two lawyers who had been working on his defense for his Senate impeachment trial in what a source familiar with the situation described as a mutual decision.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barberi, two South Carolina lawyers, are no longer on Trump’s team, the source said. The source described the move as a “mutual decision.”
It leaves Trump’s defense team in turmoil as he prepares for a trial starting on Feb. 8 to consider an article of impeachment passed by the House of Representatives charging Trump with inciting the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by his followers.
“The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” said Trump adviser Jason Miller.
“In fact, 45 senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not 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 halt Trump’s impeachment trial, in a show of party unity that some cited as a clear sign he will not be convicted of inciting insurrection at the Capitol.