Impeachment trial: Who is on Trump’s defence team?

Largely hidden from public view during the months-long impeachment process, the lawyers tasked with defending US President Donald Trump against charges that he abused his power and obstructed a congressional inquiry stepped out of the shadows this week and decried as a “ridiculous charade” the proceedings against the president.

The Senate will turn its attention to the Trump team of lawyers on Saturday as they begin their opening arguments to defend Trump.

Here is a look at the lawyers on Trump’s defence team:

Pat Cipollone (team lead)

The president’s lead litigator, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, stood before the Senate this week and accused Democrats in the House of attempting to subvert the will of the American people by overturning an election.

“They aren’t here to steal one election, they are here to steal two elections,” Cipollone said. “They want to remove Trump from the ballot. They are asking the Senate to attack one of the most sacred rights we have as Americans – the right to choose our president.”

Cipollone, White House counsel since December of 2018, advised the president during former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and was instrumental in managing his response to the Ukraine questions when they first surfaced. A graduate of the University of Chicago law school, he was introduced to Trump by Fox News’s Laura Ingraham during the 2016 campaign and has, as one official told the Wall Street Journal, been “stapled to his side” ever since.

The two are so close, in fact, that House impeachment managers said he may be a “material witness” to many of the facts of the case against Trump. In a letter to Cipollone, the Democrats warned that the potential overlap between his roles as a Trump defender and witness “threatens to undermine the integrity of the pending trial”.

Jay Sekulow

Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal lawyer, has been instrumental in keeping the president’s financial records from ending up in congressional hands or in those of state prosecutors in New York.

A radio talk show host and frequent television commentator, he has argued before the US Supreme Court 12 times, mostly on behalf of Christian groups.

So far, he has been the lawyer to come to the microphones during breaks.

“We’re going to rebut and refute, and we’re going to put on an affirmative case tomorrow,” he told reporters on Friday. 

Ken Starr

The former special counsel whose investigation of Bill Clinton led to his impeachment in 1998, Ken Starr had little public connection to Trump before this week’s trial. Of the entire table, however, he has the most impeachment experience and was once solicitor-general of the United States.

Robert Ray

Another former independent counsel with impeachment experience, Robert Ray succeeded Starr in the Clinton case and wrote the final report on his alleged wrongdoing.

Pam Bondi

A former county prosecutor and attorney general from Florida, Pam Bondi is admired by Trump for her telegenic qualities in his defence and is expected to play a public relations and communications role in the trial.

Pat Philbin

Pat Philbin, Cipollone’s deputy, was a partner in a major Washington, DC, law firm before joining the Trump administration. A political appointee to the Department of Justice during the George W Bush administration, Philbin played a role in shutting down a domestic spying plan the Bush House wanted to enact following the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Mike Purpura

Another deputy White House counsel, Mike Purpura joined the staff shortly after the Democrats took control of the House and has taken the lead in protecting the White House from congressional inquiries.

Purpura, a former New York City prosecutor and another veteran of the George W Bush administration, has in the past written to defend the notion of executive privilege.

Alan Dershowitz

A former Harvard law school professor and lawyer-to-the-stars, Alan Dershowitz claims to have voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has expressed support for Joe Biden in the 2020 race. But his book, The Case Against the Democratic House Impeaching Trump, and frequent television appearances caught Trump’s eye and he was brought onto the team to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal.

Jane Raskin

Another face from Florida on the Trump team is Jane Raskin, a former federal prosecutor who once worked with Mueller in Boston and, much later, helped defend Trump from the special counsel’s investigation.

Eric Herschmann

Rounding out the group is Eric Herschmann, a partner in the New York firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, which has represented Trump for decades in everything from divorce proceedings to sexual misconduct allegations and bankruptcy cases.

Others

In addition to the lawyers, Trump announced Monday evening that he was bringing eight Republicans who stood firmly with him in the House over to the Senate to advise on the broader effort. The team includes members who served on the judiciary, intelligence, oversight, and foreign affairs committees that conducted the inquiry.

The House Republicans include Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins of Georgia, Oversight Committee ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Reps. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Debbie Lesko of Arizona, Mark Meadows of North Carolina, John Ratcliffe of Texas, and Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin of New York.

Senate leaders, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, were said to be lukewarm about bringing over the House members initially, saying they wanted to avoid the circus-like atmosphere of the House proceedings, but relented and allowed the representatives to take on secondary roles advising the rest of the defence team on communication strategies and preparing for the question and answer sessions.