First on CNN: Five of Trump's impeachment defense attorneys leave team less than two weeks before tr

[JoeOtterbein]

CNN

By Gloria Borger, Kaitlan Collins, Jeff Zeleny and Ashley Semler, CNN

Updated 9:59 PM ET, Sat January 30, 2021
atlantic report donald trump military comments sanchez dnt lead vpx_00001619

(CNN)Five of former President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team attorneys have stepped aside a little more than a week before his Senate 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, also from South Carolina, are no longer involved with the case, either.

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more at link

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. What does that tell us?

We were part of a 4 year con.

[frazzled]

2. This is strangely amusing

Is Judge Wapner still alive? Is it required that the attorney be living? Perhaps he can be assigned a public defender? Can he bring Glenn Greenwald in from Brazil? He’s a big First Amendment enthusiast, and has defended neo-Nazis in the past. But I’m not sure he wasn’t disbarred at some point.

Perry Mason?

[RDANGELO]

3. I'll bet they have some evidence that hasn't been made public yet, and it is really bad.

These lawyers don't want to be associated with it. That's my guess.

[JoeOtterbein]

5. +1 nt

[regnaD kciN]

9. Doubt it...

...because Republican Senators will vote to acquit no matter what. (And, seriously, what evidence could be more damning that the television footage we’ve had since the afternoon of 1/6 of him sending the crowd to the Capitol?)

[RDANGELO]

15. How about a phone recording of him planning it, or someone testifying that he planned it.

With what we know now is he can plausibly deny any knowledge or intention. He can say that what was said at the rally was coincidence. I'm not saying it is believable, but it is plausible.

[Stallion]

4. I'd Bet The Attorneys Refused to Re-Litigate the 2020 Election

....while Trump wants vindication of his "landslide win". The attorneys probably insisted that he actually respond to to the impeachment charges which is the only relevant issue

[regnaD kciN]

10. That would be my guess, from the way the story is phrased...

[soothsayer]

11. This

[Gothmog]

6. Louie Gohmert is available

Link to tweet

[Quixote1818]

7. Trump probably won't pay them anything upfront. nt

[Hekate]

19. Or ever

[Jarqui]

8. Lin Wood is available if he passes a mental health test ...

With Dershowitz backing away, I guess Jonathan Turley will sully himself again ...

Bill Barr isn't doing anything ...


Maybe Matthew Whitaker isn't too busy scamming investors ...

[soothsayer]

12. Don't forget Tiffany!

[Jarqui]

16. Did Donald find someone to write her bar exam? ...nt

[LeftInTX]

13. He's not gonna have a "defense", because he will be acquitted.

If you’re Trump this is rather a no brainer. With Senate Rs aka the jury on record that impeaching former president is unconstitutional why spend money on lawyers ?

Link to tweet

[Yavin4]

14. Meet Trump's new lawyer

[rampartc]

17. or maybe harvey birdman

[struggle4progress]

18. Loses his impeachment team amid loyalty from GOP

Analysis by Maeve Reston, CNN
Updated 12:53 AM ET, Sun January 31, 2021

... Trump's lies and .. insistence that the November election was rigged ... may have turned out to be a bridge too far ...

While the Republican Party continues to bend to Trump's whims, forgive his dangerous behavior, and quiver in the face of his election threats, the judiciary and the legal profession are adhering to a higher ethical standard ...

A person familiar with the departures of the five attorneys -- Butch Bowers, Deborah Barbier, Josh Howard, Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris — told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to center his defense on the notion that there was mass election fraud in November and that the election was stolen from him ...

The case of both Trump -- who is expected to be acquitted in the Senate -- and Greene is the latest example of how the party of Lincoln has become the party of no consequences, untethered from its moorings by Trump's embrace of baseless conspiracy theories and his coddling of the most dangerous fringe elements of the party ...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/politics/donald-trump-impeachment-marjorie-taylor-greene-gop/index.html