Former President Donald Trump has been forced to hire new lawyers after his first defense team quit prior to his upcoming impeachment.
According to BBC News, five of Trump's attorneys have parted ways with him a mere week before his impeachment trial is due to commence.
Trump, who is the first President in the history of the United States to have been impeached twice, was accused of inciting the Capitol riots on January 6 with an incendiary speech made to his supporters.
Trump spoke to the public about his upcoming second impeachment trial in this official address:The BBC reports that lead attorney Butch Bowers has left, along with Deborah Barbier, Johnny Gasser, Greg Harris, and Josh Howard. Per CNN, Barbier was also a lead attorney on the case but made the mutual decision along with Bowers that she too would leave.
In an official statement shared on Twitter, a spokesperson for the former POTUS announced that lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor Jr. are now due to represent Trump in the legal proceedings, with both Schoen and Castor opining that they believe Trump's impeachment to be unconstitutional.
Castor stated:
"I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President. The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history.
"It is strong and resilient. A document written for the ages and it will triumph over partisanship yet again, and always."
The House of Representativesves delivered its articles of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate earlier last week in a ceremonial procession across the US Capitol.
In a speech made before the Senate, lead impeachment manager and constitutional law scholar Jamie Raskin stated: "Donald John Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the United States.
Raskin went on to state that he and his fellow impeachment managers were prepared to "present overwhelming evidence of the facts" that the speech Trump gave outside the White House on January 6 prompted the violence which took place later that day.
Meanwhile, Senator Patrick Leahy, the Senate president pro tempore Leahy vowed in an official statement that he would "not waver from my constitutional and sworn obligations to administer the trial with fairness, in accordance with the constitution and the laws".
However, now a Republican senator has warned that former Democrat presidents could be impeached along with Trump.
According to The Guardian, on Saturday, January 23, Texas Republican senator John Cornyn tweeted at House majority leader Chuck Schumer, stating that, if Republicans retake Congress in two years’ time, they could attempt to prosecute past Democrat presidents.
Schumer tweeted: "Our plan will allow us to do President Biden’s nominations, COVID relief, and the impeachment trial of Donald Trump. As we said, we can get all three done, and we will."
Cornyn wrote in reply: "No, it takes unanimous consent. But you already knew that.
"BTW, if it is a good idea to impeach and try former Presidents, what about former Democratic Presidents when Republicans get the majority in 2022? Think about it and let’s do what is best for the country. [sic]"
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Representative for Georgia's 14th congressional district, filed articles of impeachment against incumbent POTUS Joe Biden one day after his inauguration.
In a statement shared on Twitter on Thursday, January 21, Greene alleged that Biden had used his connections in office during the course of the Obama administration to shield his son Hunter Biden from repercussions over his allegedly-corrupt business dealings in Ukraine.
Greene wrote: "President Joe Biden is unfit to hold the office of the presidency. His pattern of abuse of power as President Obama's Vice President is lengthy and disturbing.
"President Biden has demonstrated that he will do whatever it takes to bail out his son, Hunter, and line his family's pockets with cash from corrupt foreign energy companies."
