Star power added to Trump defence team United States
US President Donald Trump has assembled a made-for-TV legal team for his Senate trial that includes household names like Ken Starr, the prosecutor whose investigation two decades ago resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz also says he will deliver constitutional arguments meant to shield Trump from allegations that he abused his power.
The additions yesterday bring experience in the politics of impeachment as well as constitutional law to the team, which faces a busy weekend of deadlines for legal briefs before opening arguments begin on Wednesday, even as more evidence rolls in.
The two new Trump lawyers are already known both for their involvement in some of the more consequential legal dramas of recent American history and for their regular appearances on Fox News, the president’s preferred TV network.
Dershowitz is a constitutional expert whose expansive views of presidential powers echo those of Trump. Starr is a veteran of partisan battles in Washington, having led the investigation into Clinton’s affair with a White House intern that brought about the president’s impeachment by the House.
Clinton was acquitted at his Senate trial, the same outcome Trump is expecting from the Republican-led chamber.
The lead roles for Trump’s defence will be played by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, who also represented Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
There are some signs of tension involving the president’s outside legal team and lawyers within the White House. Some officials there were annoyed that the announcement was not coordinated with them.
Hours after Dershowitz announced his involvement, he played down his role by saying he would be present for only an hour or so to make constitutional arguments.
A legal brief laying out the contours of the Trump defence, due on Tuesday, is still being drafted, with White House lawyers and the outside legal team grappling over how political the document should be.
White House lawyers advised Trump against tapping Dershowitz, according to two people who spoke on condition of anonymity, because of the professor’s association with Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire who killed himself in jail last year while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Other members of Trump’s legal defence include Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorneygeneral; Jane Raskin, who was part of the president’s legal team during Mueller’s investigation; and Robert Ray, who was part of the Whitewater investigation of the Clintons.
Trump was impeached by the House last month on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress, stemming from his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democratic rivals as he was withholding security aid, and his efforts to block the ensuing congressional probe. The president insists he did nothing wrong.
Democrats making their own preparations announced yesterday the release of more documents from Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Parnas has turned over to prosecutors new documents linking the president to the shadow foreign policy being run by Giuliani.
The documents have applied fresh pressure to senators to call more witnesses for the trial, a main source of contention that is still to be resolved. The White House has instructed officials not to comply with subpoenas from Congress requesting witnesses or other information.
Starr is a former US solicitorgeneral and federal circuit court judge. More recently, he was removed as president of Baylor University and then resigned as chancellor in the wake of a review critical of the university’s handling of sexual assault allegations against football players.
Dershowitz’s reputation has been damaged in recent years by his association with Epstein. One of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has accused Dershowitz of participating in her abuse.
Dershowitz has denied this, and recently wrote a book rejecting her allegations. Giuffre and Dershowitz are suing each other for defamation.