A day after Senators took an oath of impartiality in the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump, the President eagerly announced the team of lawyers who will be defending him.
Two names on the list stood out.
One was Ken Starr, who famously led the investigation against former President Bill Clinton ahead of his impeachment. He now acts as a political commentator for Fox News.
The other was Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer of the late child rapist and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Dershowitz also frequently appears on Fox News providing legal analysis.
Starr was on Epstein's defense team in 2007 as well.
Dershowitz later distanced himself from Trump's impeachment team, saying that he wasn't a full-fledged member, but instead would present a case intended to document a so-called abuse of impeachment.
Former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, took to Twitter to brag about the supposed quality of Trump's defense lawyers versus two of the House Democrats acting as impeachment managers and prosecutors against Trump.
Lets see: Speaker Pelosi sends in Schiff and Nadler and President Trump sends in Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr. Tha… https://t.co/e9dzADYr9f— Newt Gingrich (@Newt Gingrich) 1579275226.0
Gingrich's goal was to make Congressmen Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Gerrold Nadler (D-NY) look unqualified next to Dershowitz and Starr.
That's not how people took the tweet.
Nevertheless, Gingrich was right...in a way.
It absolutely does, but not in the way you mean. https://t.co/qSd2K18JMj— Kevin M. Kruse (@Kevin M. Kruse) 1579276057.0
I don't think Newt is making the point he thinks he's making https://t.co/gDQsb9lFux— Lis Power (@Lis Power) 1579284156.0
A rare moment where Newt is truthful and honest. Pelosi sent qualified Impeachment Managers. The GOP sent sexual as… https://t.co/12hf9s6ziJ— Portia My Block Hand Is Ready McGonagal (@Portia My Block Hand Is Ready McGonagal) 1579277717.0
Starr: fired from Baylor University as president because he covered up sexual assault by football players Dershow… https://t.co/o6TsLZqTue— DrDinD im🍑 his a** (@DrDinD im🍑 his a**) 1579285122.0
Yeah, it tells me House Democrats are serious and Trump is a moron who hires people tied to disgraced child rapist… https://t.co/fQO3A8krlN— Emily C. Singer (@Emily C. Singer) 1579275359.0
This doesn't read at all the way you meant it to, dude. https://t.co/QoBYUSnlq0— Matthew Chapman (@Matthew Chapman) 1579284929.0
It tells you that Trump is more comfortable hiring the legal team that secured an obscenely light sentence for Jeff… https://t.co/hH7Woyw7pf— Jeet Heer (@Jeet Heer) 1579280804.0
Yup, just not the way you think, you self-owning dufus. Also, you cheated on your wife & then served her the divorc… https://t.co/SkPZXifiwH— Brandon W. Mudd (@Brandon W. Mudd) 1579287717.0
It's almost as if they're becoming self aware ... https://t.co/uVS2CHfDYj— Josh (@Josh) 1579281725.0
Trump himself called Ken Starr a "lunatic" in 1999.
"I think Ken Starr is a lunatic. I really think that Ken Starr is a disaster." https://t.co/PLbBB4VYij— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1579284059.0
Another name on Trump's defense list is drawing concern as well.
Lev Parnas, the right-hand man of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claimed this week that Trump knew all about the efforts to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations that were politically beneficial to Trump. The President wholeheartedly denied knowing Parnas or anything about his efforts.
But an email from Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, to another Trump lawyer, John Dowd, is calling that into question.
Sekulow states explicitly that he spoke to the President about allowing Dowd to represent Parnas in his trial for illegally funneling foreign money into Republican political campaigns.
‘What Mr. Parnas is talking about here is corroborated by some of the documentation that he has handed over to the… https://t.co/9AhHMvokru— Keva (kay-va) 🏳️🌈 (@Keva (kay-va) 🏳️🌈) 1579228468.0
Sekulow will be representing Trump in the impeachment trial as well if the conflict of interest isn't addressed.