During various investigations during his tenure, Mr. Trump struggled to find or retain lawyers to defend him, and the announcement of Mr. Bowers’ hiring ended weeks of frantic searching.
Mr Trump’s attorneys from his impeachment proceedings last year are not expected to be involved this time around. These include Jay Sekulow, former White House attorney Pat A. Cipollone and his deputy, Pat Philbin, as well as another attorney who worked in the West Wing, Eric Herschmann.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who acted as Mr Trump’s personal attorney during the Special Envoy’s investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign collaborated with Russian officials, has made no secret of defending Mr Trump in the second impeachment trial.
But Mr Giuliani is a potential witness for speaking at a Trump supporter rally on Jan. 6, hours before hundreds marched to the Capitol and got excited. Almost all of Mr Trump’s advisors accuse Mr Giuliani of encouraging Mr Trump’s desire to find ways to reverse the election results and question their legitimacy for the recent impeachment.
They also partially blame him for the first impeachment of Mr Trump, which was due to the former president’s interest in pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family. Mr. Giuliani repeatedly encouraged Mr. Trump to believe unsubstantiated allegations regarding Mr. Biden’s son Hunter and his business in Ukraine.
The second impeachment proceedings are due to begin on February 9th. This week, 45 Republican Senators voted in favor of a move put forward by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul that renders the trial unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. That all but five Republican senators voted to question the constitutionality of the process pointed to a likely acquittal for Mr Trump.
Democrats pushed back, finding that Mr Trump was indicted by the House while he was still in office.
Still, the constitutionality issue is likely to be an integral part of Mr Trump’s defense. And his advisors were delighted with Republicans’ support for the Paul measure, believing it was an indication that Mr Trump would be spared conviction.
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