“I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President. The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for the United States. centuries, and it will triumph over partiality again., and always, “Castor said in a statement.
Castor, a Republican who was the elected district attorney of the third most populous county in Pennsylvania, decided not to charge Cosby during a sexual encounter in 2004. In 2015, he ran to the track again and his verdict on the Cosby case was an important issue used against him by the Democrat who defeated him.
Castor has said that he personally felt that Cosby should have been arrested, but that the evidence was not strong enough to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
In 2004, Castor ran unsuccessfully to the Attorney General. In 2016, he became the top lieutenant of the controversial state attorney general – Kathleen Kane, a Democrat – when she was charged with leaking proprietary investigative information to infect a rival and lie to a grand jury. She was convicted, leaving Castor for a few days as acting state attorney general.
Lawyer David Schoen will also lead the defense.
Schoen met with financier Jeffrey Epstein about joining his defense team on sex trafficking charges just days before Epstein committed suicide in a New York prison.
In an interview with the Atlanta Jewish Times last year, Schoen said he was also approached by Trump employee Roger Stone about Stone’s trial to be part of the team and was later detained to hear his appeal. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence and then pardoned him. Schoen claimed in the interview that the case against Stone was “very unfair and politicized”.
Sunday’s announcement was designed to foster a sense of stability around the Trump defense team as his impeachment process approaches. The former president is struggling to hire and retain lawyers willing to represent him against allegations that he sparked the deadly riot in the Capitol that took place when a mob of loyalists stormed Congress as lawmakers gathered on Jan. Joe Biden’s election victory.
SEE ALSO: All Donald Trump’s Legal Team Will Halt One Week Before Impeachment Trial: Sources
That’s a contrast to his first impeachment trial, then to Trump’s high-profile team of lawyers Alan Dershowitz, one of the country’s best-known criminal defense attorneys, and White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow, who has argued cases before the Supreme Court.
Trump’s team had initially announced that Butch Bowers, a South Carolina attorney, would lead his legal team following an introduction from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. But that team fell apart over the weekend due to differences over legal strategy.
One person familiar with their thinking said that Bowers and another South Carolina lawyer, Deborah Barbier, left the team because Trump wanted them to use a defense based on election fraud allegations, and the lawyers were unwilling to to do that. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation and requested anonymity
Republicans and aides to Trump, the first president to be impeached twice in US history, have made it clear that they intend to make a simple argument at trial: Trump’s trial, scheduled for the week of February 8, is unconstitutional because he is no longer in the office.
ALSO SEE: Dad. Congressman talks impeachment trial: ‘this president must be held accountable’
“The Democrats’ efforts to overthrow a president who has already left are completely unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” Trump adviser Jason Miller said.
However, many lawyers say there is no impediment to impeachment lawsuits despite Trump’s leaving the White House. One argument is that state constitutions predating the US Constitution allowed impeachment after officials left office. The drafters of the Constitution have not specifically ruled out the practice either.
Neither Schoen nor Castor answered telephone messages on Sunday evening asking for comment.
ALSO SEE: Trump loses key impeachment lawyers a week before trial, sources say
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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