Calls to remove Trump from office have been growing louder following the Capitol riots.
US President Donald Trump is considering appointing his personal lawyer and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and famed Jewish-American attorney Alan Dershowitz to his defense team in case he faces another impeachment trial following the Capitol riots, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
It is expected that Giuliani, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, would continue to represent him, but it is unclear if he will add Dershowitz to his defense team, though sources say such a decision is under consideration.
When asked for comment by CNN, Dershowitz replied “I don’t talk to CNN, I sue them.”
When asked by Politico on Friday, however, he said that being part of Trump’s defense would be an “honor and privilege.”
Trump has just 10 days left in office before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated. However, following riots last Wednesday which saw Trump supporters storm the Capitol building to stop the election from being certified, lawmakers are calling for him to be removed from office sooner.
While some are calling to do so by invoking the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, others are calling for another impeachment trial, which some Democrats believe will help pressure Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to invoke the amendment.
But Democrats are not alone in calling for Trump’s ousting, with several Republicans in both chambers of Congress, such as Arkansas Senator Lisa Murkowski, calling for the president to resign.
Trump has refused calls for resignation, and White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that impeaching the president a second time with just a few days left in the Oval Office “would only serve to further divide the country.”
If Trump is impeached, it is unlikely that the primary members of his defense team for his first impeachment trial, which saw him acquitted from charges of pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden, constitutional attorney Jay Sekulow, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and attorney Jane Raskin, would be part of a second, according to CNN.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post