Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr and Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz have joined President Donald Trump’s impeachment legal team ahead of the Senate’s upcoming trial.
“Professor Dershowitz will present oral arguments at the Senate trial to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal,” a spokesperson for the legal team said in a statement Friday. “While Professor Dershowitz is non-partisan when it comes to the constitution—he opposed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and voted for Hillary Clinton— he believes the issues at stake go to the heart of our enduring Constitution.”
Dershowitz, one of the country’s most high-profile constitutional lawyers, confirmed the news to CNBC. “The president asked me to do this, and the legal team asked me to do this,” he said.
Starr, a former appeals court judge who headed up the investigation into the Whitewater the Monica Lewinsky scandals, has yet to confirm the news.
Robert Ray, an ex-federal prosecutor and independent counsel who took over for Starr in the Whitewater probe, is also expected to join the president’s legal team, CNN reports.
GOP firebrand lashes out at reporter over Massie allegation: ‘F— you, first of all!’
WATCH: Mace says Trump’s endorsement hasn’t sealed SC gubernatorial race: ‘It’s a dog fight’
Jill Biden says former president will live with stage 4 cancer ‘for the rest of his life,’ has slowed down
Last surviving ‘Rosie the Riveters’ honored by WWII Museum on D-Day Anniversary: ‘We can do it’
Woman allegedly choked subway rider, yelled antisemitic remarks in attack caught on video: police
Girl known as ‘Chelsea Jane Doe’ ID’d 26 years after mutilated body found hundreds of miles from home state
At least a dozen shot near festival in Ohio; manhunt for suspects underway
Steve Hilton launches ad mocking Xavier Becerra’s ’36 years’ as a career politician in California gov race
WATCH – Smug Dem Rep’s Face Goes Totally Blank After a Cool Sec. Bessent Educates Him About His Own Branch of Government
GRAPHIC: The Excuse This Islamist Gives for Raping 250 Women Shows Why Islam and the West Can’t Exist Together
Vance Enrages Starmer with His Condemnation of the Police Response to Henry Nowak’s Murder
Pennsylvania AG explains why state leads nation in Medicaid fraud convictions while others battle mass schemes
Veteran-founded bourbon brand wins $25,000 Fox Business contest: ‘Sip to remember’
Witnesses in Karmelo Anthony murder trial confirm Austin Metcalf’s words immediately after attack
Trump issues pardon to former Republican congressman convicted of insider trading
“You can confirm that I expect an announcement this afternoon,” Ray told CNBC of the report.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow, President Trump’s personal attorney, will lead the defense team.
The development comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) bowed to pressure on Wednesday from Republicans and several Democrats to transfer two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — to the Senate after a near four-week delay. Additionally, Pelosi announced the seven House Democrats who will serve as impeachment managers in the trial, naming: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Val Demings (D-FL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jason Crow (D-CO), and Sylvia Garcia (D-TX). Schiff was appointed lead impeachment manager.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said this week that the trial will likely start next Tuesday.
GOP firebrand lashes out at reporter over Massie allegation: ‘F— you, first of all!’
WATCH: Mace says Trump’s endorsement hasn’t sealed SC gubernatorial race: ‘It’s a dog fight’
Jill Biden says former president will live with stage 4 cancer ‘for the rest of his life,’ has slowed down
Last surviving ‘Rosie the Riveters’ honored by WWII Museum on D-Day Anniversary: ‘We can do it’
Woman allegedly choked subway rider, yelled antisemitic remarks in attack caught on video: police
Girl known as ‘Chelsea Jane Doe’ ID’d 26 years after mutilated body found hundreds of miles from home state
At least a dozen shot near festival in Ohio; manhunt for suspects underway
Steve Hilton launches ad mocking Xavier Becerra’s ’36 years’ as a career politician in California gov race
WATCH – Smug Dem Rep’s Face Goes Totally Blank After a Cool Sec. Bessent Educates Him About His Own Branch of Government
GRAPHIC: The Excuse This Islamist Gives for Raping 250 Women Shows Why Islam and the West Can’t Exist Together
Vance Enrages Starmer with His Condemnation of the Police Response to Henry Nowak’s Murder
Pennsylvania AG explains why state leads nation in Medicaid fraud convictions while others battle mass schemes
Veteran-founded bourbon brand wins $25,000 Fox Business contest: ‘Sip to remember’
Witnesses in Karmelo Anthony murder trial confirm Austin Metcalf’s words immediately after attack
Trump issues pardon to former Republican congressman convicted of insider trading
“We’ll be able to go through some preliminary steps here this week, which could well include the Chief Justice coming over and swearing-in members of the Senate and some other kind of housekeeping measures…which would set us up to begin the actual trial next Tuesday,” McConnell confirmed at a Capitol Hill press conference.
President Trump has repeatedly criticized the Democrats’ impeachment effort as a “hoax” and an “illegal, partisan attempted coup.”
Story cited here.
