The seven Democrats who will defend Donald Trump's indictments in the Senate now know their opponents. Unsurprisingly, the President's team of lawyers will be led by White House legal counsel Pat Cipollone and attorney Jay Sekulow, already present during the investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller on interference loaned to Russia during the 2016 campaign. It was reinforced, Friday, January 17, by two personalities, the lawyer Alan Dershowitz and the former special prosecutor Kenneth Starr at the origin of the trial in dismissal of Bill Clinton, in 1999 .
Legal adviser to the White House since 2018, Pat Cipollone is not a figure particularly known to the general public. The Senate trial will be his test of fire. He had written, in October 2019, the inflammatory letter in which the presidency decided not to collaborate with the House of Representatives in an indictment proceeding tried "Unconstitutional" and "Highly partisan". A conservative Catholic, he was responsible for the conversion of Fox News columnist Laura Ingraham, a friend, former Baptist, and staunch defender of Donald Trump, to this religion.
Unlike Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow performs regularly on the continuous news channel that the President of the United States regularly follows. Creator of a radio program that bears his name, founder of a conservative think tank, the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow made his name by winning litigation before the Supreme Court for the benefit of the right religious. A Jew converted to Christianity, a member of the current of Messianic Jews, he is also a regular commentator on religious television channels Trinity Broadcasting Network or even Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson.
Constitutionalist Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard professor, does not belong to this conservative milieu. "I have been asked to present my constitutional arguments against removal", he said, "But I'm not a full member of the defense team" Of the president. As a young lawyer, he rose to fame by having the conviction of Claus von Bülow, a Briton suspected of the murder of his wife, quashed. This news had inspired a film taken from the lawyer’s story.
