Former independent counsel Ken Starr, who paved the way for the impeachment of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1998, and prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz will join President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial defence team, Trump’s legal team and a source said on Friday.
The team will be led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump private attorney Jay Sekulow. Trump adviser Pam Bondi and former independent counsel Robert Ray will also be on the team, according to the source who is familiar with the team’s composition.
Trump’s legal team issued a statement saying Dershowitz, 81, will present oral arguments at the trial to address the constitutional arguments against impeachment and removal from office.
“While Professor Dershowitz is non-partisan when it comes to the Constitution — he opposed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and voted for Hillary Clinton — he believes the issues at stake go to the heart of our enduring Constitution,” the Trump legal team said. “He is participating in this impeachment trial to defend the integrity of the Constitution and to prevent the creation of a dangerous constitutional precedent.”
Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, has been part of the legal team for a number of high-profile defendants, including accused murderers O.J. Simpson and Claus von Bulow, as well as Jeffrey Epstein and Mike Tyson.
Watch: Dershowitz talks to CBC about the Mueller report in March 2019
Starr succeeded Robert Fiske as independent counsel investigating Bill and Hillary Clinton’s past real estate dealings in the mid-1990s. Under Starr, the investigation shifted focus to include the president’s actions and statements concerning Paula Jones, who accused Clinton of sexual harassment when he was Arkansas governor, and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, with whom Clinton had an affair.
Starr produced a 445-page report that formed the basis for the House impeachment of Clinton in late 1998, just the second time a U.S. president had been impeached.
More recently, Starr served as Baylor University president, but was forced out after an outside review excoriated the school and its football program for inaction in the wake of a host of sexual assault accusations involving players over an extended period of time.
Procedural matters commenced in the Senate this week for impeachment, with Chief Justice John Roberts and the senators sworn in. A two-thirds majority of the 100-member body would be needed in favour of removing the president from office, an outcome not expected in the Republican-majority chamber.
Opening statements in the Senate trial are expected next week.
The Democrats named seven managers, who serve in effect as prosecutors, led by House intelligence chair Adam Schiff, a former federal prosecutor.