A lawyer who will be representing former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial does not plan on using claims of election fraud in his defense.
Bruce Castor told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Monday, one day before the trial is set to begin, that Trump’s legal team would make its primary message its belief that the push to impeach a former president is unconstitutional.
“It’s unnecessary,” he said when asked if he would be addressing the former president’s election fraud allegations, which have been rejected by election officials and the courts. “It’s such a polarizing issue, I don’t see any tactical advantage in injecting a problem into the case.”
Ten Republicans joined Democrats who control the House in voting to impeach Trump on a single charge of incitement of insurrection in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump’s team argues that the trial is unconstitutional because he is no longer in office.
“The House did not impeach President Trump because he expressed an unpopular political opinion,” Democratic House managers wrote in response to Trump’s legal team. “It impeached him because he willfully incited violent insurrection against the government.”
“This rushed, single article of impeachment ignores the very Constitution from which its power comes and is itself defectively drafted,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a 78-page brief. They argued that those who invaded the U.S. Capitol “did so of their own accord and for their own reasons.”
Trump’s Senate trial could last several days and include witnesses. A two-thirds vote is needed to convict, and if it is successful, senators could vote to prevent Trump from holding office again.
Castor was added to Trump’s impeachment defense team on Jan. 31, along with David Schoen, after other lawyers parted ways with the former president.
