With just over a week before his Senate trial is set to begin former President Donald Trump sent five of his impeachment lawyers packing.
Former federal prosecutors Greg Harris, Johnny Gasser, and Josh Howard and two South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier parted ways with Trump’s defense team over the weekend, a move that both sides agree was a mutual decision.
According to a source familiar with the case, the five lawyers left over a conflict of opinion on how the defense team would present their argument.
A different source informed the Associated Press the South Carolina lawyers left because of pressure from the former president to make allegations of election fraud during the trial.
New additions are expected to join the team later in the week.
The unexpected changes come with very little time to replace the missing team members before Trump faces charges that he knowingly incited the insurrection at the United States Capitol on the day that Congress assembled to certify the electoral votes that would confirm President Joe Biden’s victory. This leaves the remaining members of his defense team scrambling to reconstruct their plan at a very crucial moment.
Trump would have almost certainly been acquitted, however, because out of the 50 Republicans in the Senate 45 voted earlier this month to dismiss the trial on a point of order brought forward by Senator Rand Paul saying that the Constitution forbids the trial and conviction of officials who are already out of office before an impeachment trial begins.
The five Republicans remaining voted along with the Democrats to end debate on Paul’s motion.