Trump lawyers exit after he pushed them to cite baseless voter fraud claims

A team of attorneys has parted ways with Donald Trump after the former president asked them to focus on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud as part of his defense strategy, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

At least three lawyers — Butch Bowers, Deborah Barbier and Joshua Howard — decided to leave the legal team after being asked to focus on the claims of fraud in the election that he lost as part of his defense strategy, the sources said.

Earlier, a source had said it had been a “mutual decision” to part ways ahead of Trump’s second impeachment trial in the Senate.

Jan. 31, 202108:24

Two new attorneys — David Schoen and Bruce Castor Jr. — were named Sunday evening, just days before a pre-trial brief is due for the impeachment trail that is set to begin a week from Tuesday.

Trump wanted his original team to falsely argue he won the election and continue his baseless suggestions the presidential race was somehow “rigged,” per one person with knowledge of the discussions, but the attorneys were not comfortable with amplifying misinformation. Instead, they wanted to use a Constitutional argument.

A vote in the Senate last week showed 45 Republicans believe impeaching a former president is unconstitutional.

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Another source familiar with the matter said that Trump wanted them to pursue a case that would detail fraud claims in places like Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia, despite no evidence such widespread fraud exists.

Trump adviser Jason Miller said the former president did not ask the lawyers to do so and any suggestion otherwise was “fake news.”

A statement announcing the new legal team said that Schoen and Castor Jr. “agree that this impeachment is unconstitutional.”

Castor is the former Pennsylvania district attorney who declined to prosecute disgraced comedian and actor Bill Cosby in 2005 over an encounter with Andrea Constand the year before. Cosby was convicted of sexually assaulting Constand in 2018 after a different prosecutor pursued the case.

Schoen is a civil and criminal defense lawyer with offices in Alabama and New York.

In a statement, Trump’s office said Schoen had already been preparing with other advisers.