Former President Donald Trump has picked a South Carolina attorney to represent him in his impending Senate impeachment trial, according to a close ally.
Butch Bowers, of Bowers Law Office, will represent the president, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on a Senate GOP conference call on Thursday, Punchbowl News first reported. He did not immediately return a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Trump was impeached last week for “incitement of insurrection” after he encouraged his supporters who attended a rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to march to the U.S. Capitol to express their displeasure with Congress’s intent to certify President Biden’s electoral victory. Rioters, many of whom were Trump supporters, breached the building, resulting in five deaths and a widespread investigation leading to arrests and charges.
Bowers previously served as counsel to the governor of North Carolina a number of times regarding HB2 litigation and voter ID legislation, among other issues. He also served as counsel in Florida for John McCain’s presidential campaign and as the special counsel for voting matters appointed by former President George W. Bush.
Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who led a legal challenge questioning the results of the 2020 election, said he will not be representing the president in a Senate trial because he attended and spoke at the same “Stop the Steal” rally where Trump delivered remarks ahead of the siege of Congress.
“Because I gave an earlier speech [at the Jan. 6 Trump rally], I am a witness and therefore unable to participate in court or Senate chamber,” he said.
Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz told the Washington Examiner this week he was not representing Trump with regard to impeachment, but he declined to say if he had discussed the matter with the former president recently.
Trump was first impeached by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 on two Ukraine-related charges but was acquitted by the GOP-led Senate.
The House impeached Trump a second time on Jan. 13 by a vote of 232-197. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has appointed a team of impeachment managers, she has not sent the article to the Senate, where lawmakers would be compelled to hold a trial to determine whether to convict Trump and ban him from future office. Legal scholars have questioned whether the move would be legal because the Constitution does not address charging and convicting former presidents.
