Trump’s New Impeachment Lawyers: An Ex-D.A. Who Fought to Let Bill Cosby Go Free and a Guy With Ties to Jeffrey Epstein

After Donald Trump became the first president in United States history to be impeached for a second time, he struggled to find lawyers to represent him, which probably had something to do with the violent insurrection he incited. Then Lindsey Graham reportedly recommended Butch Bowers to him, and it appeared the South Carolina attorney would represent Trump at his upcoming Senate trial. Over the weekend though, the two parted ways—along with four (4!) other lawyers expected to work on the case—reportedly over Trump’s insistence that the team focuses on his entirely baseless claim the election was stolen from him. That left the 45th president in a pretty desperate spot, a desperation reflected by the duo now set to represent him, i.e. a veritable who’s who of sexual-predator defenders who seemingly have such low standards they’ll sign anyone as a client, unhinged ex-presidents accused of trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election included.

Yes, one week before his Senate trial kicks off, Trump has reportedly retained the legal services of Bruce Castor Jr. and David Schoen, attorneys whose past work includes some of history’s biggest monsters, making them perfect for a guy who, unrelated to his current legal woes, has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women. (Trump, of course, has denied it all). Castor, who previously worked as a prosecutor, is probably best known for his decision not to prosecute Bill Cosby, who is currently incarcerated at Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institution at Phoenix and classified as a sexually violent predator. In 2005, Castor chose not to charge Cosby after he was accused of sexual misconduct but the district attorney didn’t stop there. Per The Washington Post:

Cosby was eventually convicted in 2018 of raping and drugging the woman. Such cases often take quite a while to put together, and charging decisions are difficult for any prosecutor. But what’s particularly notable about Castor is what he did in the years after his decision not to prosecute Cosby: He advanced a rather novel legal theory that his decision not to prosecute was somehow also binding on future prosecutions, and thus Cosby couldn’t be charged in the case. Cosby’s team called Castor as a witness, and Castor claimed there was just such a secret deal in place, despite there having been no mention of it in his news release announcing his decision. “Mr. Cosby was not getting prosecuted at all—ever—as far as I was concerned,” Castor said. “My belief was that I had the power to make such a statement.” Castor added: “I made a judgment as the sovereign representing the commonwealth not to prosecute Cosby. I was the only person in Pennsylvania who had the power to make that decision, and I made it.”

Ultimately the judge in the case rejected Castor’s claims and said he was not a credible witness. Later, Castor sued one of Cosby’s victims, Andrea Constand, and her lawyers, after she accused him of defamation, with Castor claiming that she’d done so to ruin his political career. (His suit was dismissed.)

Then there’s David Schoen. In March, the criminal defense attorney, who most recently represented disgraced Trump pal Roger Stone, told Fox News that he’d met with Jeffrey Epstein for hours shortly before the financier’s death to discuss taking over his defense (Epstein had recently been charged with abusing dozens of girls at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach and was looking at 45 years in prison.) “We came to an agreement during the course of that discussion,” said Schoen, “We met for five hours on August 1. I said that I would want to meet with his team first to see how they felt about that. And then we would go forward. We mapped out a strategy going forward.” After Epstein was found dead in his prison cell, Schoen suggested he must have been murdered, which he apparently still believes.

So yeah, those are Trump’s lawyers, and the fact that it sounds like he found them by googling “need a lawyer, anyone will do” might mean something for his prospects if not for the fact that it’s almost a certainty that Senate Republicans are going to let him get away with everything. Last week 45 of them voted to scrap the trial entirely and while they were unsuccessful, and as Lindsey Graham gleefully explained to Trump when they last chatted, “We are going to get more than enough for an acquittal.” Or as Vox’s Aaron Rupar put it:

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