I’ve lost track of all the attorneys representing President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment hearings. I know that some of them include Pam Bondi, Pat Cipollone, Alan Dershowitz, Patrick Philbin, Mike Purpura, Jane Raskin, Robert Ray, Jay Sekulow, and Ken Starr.
But not Rudy Giuliani who still remains Trump’s personal attorney.
Giuliani seems to be at the heart of Trump’s order to withhold congressionally approved aid to Ukraine until they announced an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Giuliani also has his own legal challenges.
Even though Trump refers to his phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “perfect,” Trump needs all of these attorneys to defend him against the overwhelming evidence that he did exactly what he is accused of. So, the man who once said that he only hires “the best” went straight to the guest list of Fox News to build his legal defense team.
Leading the team is Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel.
Interestingly, as White House counsel, Cipollone is supposed to represent the Office of the President, not the individual who holds the office. In other words, he works for us taxpayers who pay his salary, not Trump. But Trump is using him anyway, on our dime, and Cipollone is willing to go along.
Another interesting pick is Alan Dershowitz, who is famous for representing O.J. Simpson and Jeffrey Epstein. After representing these two guys, why not add Trump to your portfolio.
Dershowitz has been all over the networks trying to sell the idea that presidents can’t be impeached for abuse of power or obstruction of Congress. I’m not a lawyer, but shouldn’t he first try to sell the idea that the president didn’t abuse his power or obstruct Congress? But, this seems to be Trump’s primary line of defense: He did it, but he didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s not impeachable.
Dershowitz had a different opinion in 1998 during Clinton’s impeachment hearings. When asked on the Larry King show if a violation of criminal law was required for impeachment, Dershowitz responded that “It certainly doesn’t have to be a crime” and “You don’t need a technical crime. We look at their acts of state. We look at how they conduct foreign policy. We look at whether they try to subvert the Constitution.”
A former military lawyer, Sen. Lindsey Graham, said in 1999 that impeachment “doesn’t have to be a crime.” Rather, he said, “when you start using your office and you’re acting in a way that hurts people, you committed a high crime” that’s impeachable.
Attorney General William Barr also stated in 2018 that a crime was not necessary. Rather, he said that presidents who misused their authority were subject to impeachment.
But none of these folks were working for Trump when they said those things. I guess when you work for Trump you need to both sell your soul and your law degree.
Even if a crime were necessary, however, that criteria has been met. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan congressional agency, found that Trump “broke a law” that governs how the White House disburses money approved by Congress by holding $214 million worth of military aid to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.
Ken Starr is an interesting choice. He led the impeachment case against President Bill Clinton. Starr’s investigation of Clinton lasted for over four years. Talk about a witch hunt. He was appointed to investigate a Clinton real-estate transaction but ended up leading the impeachment case after Clinton lied about having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Hey, at least Clinton was willing to testify under oath. Trump refuses to testify or allow his aides to testify. I wonder why?
Even Trump was critical of Starr’s behavior and called him a “freak” and a “lunatic.” Trump told The New York Times, “I really think that Ken Starr was terrible.” But now that Starr may be able to help Trump, it appears that “terrible” is good enough.
The hypocrisy of Starr indicting Clinton for lying about sex and now representing Trump who is accused of multiple sexual assaults and thousands of false statements is astonishing. In addition, Starr was recently fired from his last job as president of Baylor University for his part in covering up a sex scandal involving members of Baylor’s football team. Again, the hypocrisy is a mile deep. The man spent years investigating Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky, but couldn’t find the time to properly investigate several cases of sexual assault on his own college campus.
Only the best.
Tom Zirpoli writes from Westminster. He is the program coordinator of the Human Services Management graduate program at McDaniel College. His column appears on Wednesdays. Email him at tzirpoli@mcdaniel.edu.