Five of the attorneys on former President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team have left, with their Senate impeachment trial just days away, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement on his legal strategy, CNN reported.
Trump has struggled to find lawyers willing to take the case to his second impeachment.
And now, with legal reports pending for next week and a trial that will begin just days later, Trump is still holding on to his claims of fraud in the elections and is without legal representation.
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Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who were expected to be two of the lead lawyers, they are no longer on the team.
A source familiar with the changes said it was a mutual decision of both, to leave the legal team . As lead attorney, Bowers was the one who assembled the team.
Josh Howard , a North Carolina attorney recently added to the team, also he left, according to another source familiar with the changes. Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, also from South Carolina, are also no longer involved in the case.
A person familiar with the exits told him to CNN that Trump wanted lawyers to argue that there was massive electoral fraud and that the elections were stolen from him , rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after leaving office.
Apparently, Trump was not receptive to discussions with the lawyers about how they should proceed in that regard.
The lawyers had not yet received no upfront payment and a letter of intent was never signed. CNN said it contacted the attorneys for comment.
