ButchBowers – Impeachment News and Resources

Donald Trump repels integrity of any kind. Anyone who exhibits even a smidge of it must be immediately stricken from his presence, which is exactly what happened this weekend with Trump's top impeachment lawyers.

Trump has been insisting that his impeachment defense center around the big lie that he won the election and it was stolen from him. Karl "Butch" Bowers Jr. and four other lawyers on Trump's defense team abruptly quit over the weekend because they refused to mount his defense on a gigantic lie, according to The Washington Post. Instead, they had pushed to make the case that trying a president who was no longer in office was unconstitutional, reinforcing an argument that most mainstream legal scholars reject but that was nonetheless embraced last week by the 45 GOP senators who voted against proceeding with the trial.

But the situation was clearly untenable. Trump simply can't function in a world where the reality is that he's a big loser. So any legal team that insists on a reality-based approach that instead focuses on constitutional arguments is automatically disqualified. Trump repels integrity. Always.

"The former president repeatedly said he wanted to litigate the voter fraud allegations and the 2020 race — and was seeking a more public defense of his actions. Bowers told Trump he couldn’t mount the defense that Trump wanted," writes the Post.

That left Trump—who had struggled for weeks to find lawyers willing to defend him—without a defense team just over a week before his impeachment trial is set to begin on Feb. 9.

On Sunday evening, Trump's office announced two new lawyers as his defense team: Atlanta-based trial attorney David Schoen and Bruce Castor Jr., a former district attorney in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Schoen recently represented Trump bestie Roger Stone as he appealed his conviction for lying and obstructing a congressional investigation into 2016 election interference. The Post reports that Schoen was also in talks to represent convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was facing sex trafficking charges just before his death inside a jail cell in 2019, so that gives us an idea of Schoen's typical clientele. It only makes sense that he would take on Trump, who has lived his life palling around with people like Stone and Epstein. Castor seems to be of a piece too. NBC reports that in 2005 Castor declined to pursue charges against Bill Cosby for a sexual encounter in 2004 that ultimately became the basis for Cosby's 2018 sexual assault conviction when a different prosecutor tried the case.

Only the best from Trump, who is clearly cooking up yet another lesson in depravity for America.

Meanwhile, House Democrats have been working "round-the-clock" on an impeachment presentation designed to provide a gripping presentation of how Trump’s words and actions directly incited the Jan. 6 mob to action at the Capitol.

Former President Donald Trump is apparently having some trouble finding legal representation in his upcoming impeachment trial. All five lawyers, including former federal litigators and Trump’s anticipated lead attorneys Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, have quit less than two weeks before the trial is scheduled to begin the week of February 8, unnamed sources told CNN. Other attorneys with the good sense to distance themselves from Trump include South Carolina lawyers Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris and Josh Howard, a North Carolina attorney who worked on the Monica Lewinsky investigation during former President Bill Clinton's time in office, CNN reported.

"A person familiar with the situation called it a ‘mutual" decision,’ New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted Saturday. "Bowers has been noticeably muted for someone leading a Trump defense, choosing not to talk to most reporters. The person familiar with the situation said there was no chemistry between Bowers and Trump."

Bowers has been noticeably muted for someone leading a Trump defense, choosing not to talk to most reporters. The person familiar with the situation said there was no chemistry between Bowers and Trump.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 31, 2021

The legal team’s decision to leave reportedly boiled down to a disagreement about legal strategy in the case, with Trump wanting them to argue the clearly unwinnable case that he's a victim of mass election fraud. The reality TV star’s better case is that impeaching a former president is unconstitutional, but even that is a toss-up considering it’s not actually mentioned in the constitution, legal scholars told various news agencies. Trump’s team—and by team, I mean the few remaining people linked to his presidency who aren’t desperately trying to distance themselves from him—is clutching to the constitutionality argument.

"The Democrats' efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” Trump’s former campaign adviser Jason Miller told CNN. “In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly."

Despite GOP sentiments these days that impeaching a former president is unconstitutional, Rep. Matt Gaetz argued the exact opposite point on Twitter Dec. 4, 2019, when Trump suggested former President Barack Obama should be impeached for his stance on healthcare. “You actually can impeach a former President, FWIW”, Gaetz tweeted.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said in a statement The Washington Post obtained that the Senate “lacks constitutional authority to conduct impeachment proceedings against a former president.” “The Founders designed the impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office — not an inquest against private citizens,” Cotton said.

The Post’s fact-checking team, however, gave a less definitive analysis:

“Some argue it’s impossible to impeach former officials. Some say it’s possible — if Congress wants to ban them from holding federal office again. One scholar said a definitive answer would come only after a court battle on these issues.

For now, no court appears to have ruled on this question, the text of the Constitution doesn’t spell out the answer, and past practice in Congress is an inconclusive guide.”

What’s more conclusive is just how much damage Trump did when he made repeated claims of widespread election fraud then challenged his supporters to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. “We will never give up. “We will never concede. It doesn't happen,” Trump said at the Save America rally before the riot at the Capitol. “You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about.”

Ten House Republicans joined 222 Democrats in a vote to impeach Trump on January 13, and as it turns out, even supporters of the former president who are charged in connection to the Capitol riot are now arguing Trump made them do it, CNN reported. Jacob Anthony Chansley otherwise known as the “QAnon shaman” who appeared horned, shirtless, and draped in bearskin during the riot, said through an attorney that he was "duped" by Trump, according to CNN. Chansley was arrested earlier this month on federal charges of “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority” and violent entry, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

"You become very self-interested very quickly when you've been charged by the Department of Justice," Elie Honig, a former federal litigator and CNN analyst, said on the news network. "Whatever political mission these people thought they were on while invading the Capitol, now that they might get locked up, they'll point the finger wherever they need to. Political goals now go out the window."

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Category: ButchBowers

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