Former President Donald Trump's lawyers are expected to argue that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional as he no longer works as the commander-in-chief.
Impeachment trial is unconstitutional
At Trump's impeachment trial next week, his new legal team, supported by the majority of Senate Republicans in charge of his fate, are expected to argue that the trial is unconstitutional. However, it remains unclear if they have entirely discharged Trump's election fraud allegations, the issue that dissolved Trump's prior legal team.
Over the weekend, the former president and his first lawyers have parted over trial strategy, USA Today reported. Trump wants to emphasize "voter fraud" issues amid the impeachment trial, a person familiar with the legal discussions said.
But the original lawyers wanted to point out that the Senate should not hold the trial of a former officeholder and that the former president's comments amid the January 6 Capitol rally that led to a deadly riot did not incite the mob.
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Meanwhile, the new legal team says fraud is not the center of the arguments and does not close the door on them. On Sunday evening, Trump announced Bruce Castor Jr., a former district attorney in Pennsylvania, and David Schoen, a criminal defense attorney who works in New York and Alabama, would lead Trump's defense.
In an interview with The Washington Post Sunday, Schoen offered few insights on the path forward. He planned to focus on the "weaponization of the impeachment process" and would not argue Trump's voter fraud claims, Schoen said.
Democrats use the upcoming Trump's impeachment trial as a political "weapon" in barring the former president from seeking office again, as per the NBC New York. Besides, the party is pursuing an "undemocratic" case, one of Trump's lawyers said on Monday night.
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Political weaponization
According to The Epoch Times, Democrat lawmakers call for Trump's impeachment since the start of his term. The upcoming trial is their chance to target the former president and carry out their plan of preventing him from running for office ever again.
Schoen told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday, "This is the political weaponization of the impeachment process." Trump's new lawyer added that he thinks it is the most ill-advised legislative action he has seen in his lifetime, and it tears the country apart.
On January 13, the Democrat-controlled House voted 232-197 to impeach the former president on a single impeachment article, alleging Trump inciting an "insurrection" that led the US Capitol riot. Republicans have criticized the impeachment that took seven hours for the practicality and lack of proper process. The question prompted a heated public debate among lawmakers and legal scholars, if the Senate trial is constitutional, as per the Epoch Times.
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