The White House is gearing up for opening arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial with the abrupt revelation of multiple new members joining the president’s defense team. These new Trump defenders include the widely controversial Alan Dershowitz and former independent counsels Ken Starr and Robert Ray. Starr was a leading investigator targeting President Bill Clinton ahead of his own impeachment in the 1990s, and after Starr quit his work, Ray took over the office and continued his investigation of the Clintons. Now, the president is seeking to rely on these avid partisans in presenting his defense in the Senate.
Dershowitz’s office confirmed his addition to the Trump defense team, and, in that statement, they outlandishly claimed that Dershowitz is “non-partisan.” In reality, he’s spent months on end working up a storm of attempted defense for Donald Trump, belligerence and all.
Still, their statement read:
‘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. He is participating in this impeachment trial to defend the integrity of the Constitution and to prevent the creation of a dangerous constitutional precedent.’
A similar claim of some kind of valiant defense of the Constitution was used for GOP impeachment witness Professor Jonathan Turley, but in reality, many of Turley’s passionate arguments were simply complete bad faith nonsense. For example, he complained about Democrats not hearing from key firsthand sources — but the president himself blocked those sources from appearing for testimony with harsh demands for noncompliance with any and all Congressional demands for testimony.
As for Dershowitz, Trump tweeted favorably about some “defense” he’d offered as recently as this Friday morning. He posted a quote of Dershowitz’s argument against a Government Accountability Office ruling that the White House had broken the law via delaying Congressionally approved military aid for Ukraine. But if you look at the argument closely, it’s just more of that bad faith nonsense. Dershowitz just says that Trump should be in charge because he’s the president. How convincing!
….for the foreign policies of the President.” @AlanDersh Alan Dershowitz @seanhannity @FoxNews They do what the House asks. The Swamp!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020
Trump has also tweeted praise for Starr many times. Shortly before Trump’s impeachment became official late last year, he posted:
‘“The evidence has to be overwhelming, and it is not. It’s not even close.” Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel’
“The evidence has to be overwhelming, and it is not. It’s not even close.” Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2019
Other members set for the team include personal Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Jane Raskin, who’s “one of the president’s outside personal attorneys who represented him during the Mueller probe,” ABC explains. The side against the president will include seven impeachment case managers, including high profile names like Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
Republicans have already been plotting an acquittal for Trump, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) himself having insisted that he would not be an “impartial juror.” McConnell and other Senators were sworn in as impeachment trial jurors this week, and opening arguments are slated to begin on Tuesday. The question of whether or not to hear from witnesses is slated to be considered after those opening arguments.
