President Donald Trump has named the man who led Bill Clinton’s impeachment charge to his own defense team.
On Friday, The New York Times reported Trump has added Ken Starr and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz to his Senate impeachment trial defense team.
Starr, who has been an outspoken critic of Democrat-led impeachment efforts, served as the special prosecutor whose investigations into Clinton’s Whitewater real estate investments led to the 42nd president’s impeachment. Clinton was acquitted in the Senate.
As a criminal lawyer, Dershowitz has represented many high-profile celebrity clients, including Mike Tyson, Patty Hearst and Jim Bakker. He also served as a defense attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial along with other legal “Dream Team” members Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow are expected to have the lead roles on the defense team. Other members include Jane Raskin, who was part of the president's legal team during special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, and Robert Ray, who was also part of the Whitewater investigation.
Dershowitz confirmed his role in a series of tweets Friday.
Starr served as a federal Court of Appeals judge and as solicitor general for George H. W. Bush. He was initially appointed to investigate the suicide of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and the Whitewater real estate investments of Clinton.
That investigation expanded into numerous areas including suspected perjury about Clinton's sexual activity with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
More than four years later, Starr filed his report alleging Clinton lied about the affair during a sworn deposition. That led to Clinton’s impeachment and the five-year suspension of Clinton's law license.
Opening arguments in Trump's impeachment trial will begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday. On Thursday, the Senate formally received House Democrat-authored impeachment articles. Chief Justice John Roberts swore in the senators who will decide if Trump is guilty of impeachable crimes and should be removed from office.
The House voted Dec. 18 to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from his conduct toward Ukraine.
Trump is the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. The others are Clinton and, in 1868, Andrew Johnson. President Richard Nixon resigned before the House could impeach him.
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