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They're renowned defense attorneys.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Feb 10, 2021
The first day of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial is in the history books, and needless to say, it was quite the show.
This is The Apprentice star's second impeachment trial — making it one for the history books — and if the trial is proven to be successful, Trump will be barred from ever holding public office again.
But politics of the impeachment aside, the trial is making headlines because the former President has just commissioned two established criminal defense attorneys to represent him.
However, these attorneys are better known for their controversy than they are for their legal maneuvering.
Who are Bruce Castor and David Schoen, Trump's impeachment defense team?
Let's take a look at these two controversial gentlemen.
They replaced Trump's previous impeachment defense team.
Prior to Donald Trump hiring Bruce Castor and David Schoen, Donald Trump hired a defense team led by South Carolina attorney Bruce Bowers, Esq., of the Bowers Law Office.
This representation was subsequently confirmed in a tweet by Trump advisor Jason Miller, which you can see below.
Bowers, who was recommended to Trump by South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham, reportedly left the team after Trump insisted that he make the fallacious argument that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen."
Castor is under fire for what is being called a "rambling" opening argument.
Microsoft News did a deep dive into Bruce Castor's opening argument, and they came away with one conclusion: it was "rambling."
According to the site, Castor seemed to be arguing that a President can say what he wants, when he wants, even though there are "clear limitations" on free speech, such as incitement to riot and defamation.
(It's the former argument — buttressed by the Capitol Hill riots on January 6, 2021 — that's at the crux of the Democrats' desire to impeach, with the claim that Trump incited the gathering crowd to riot and, thus, wasn't afforded protections under the free speech provision.)
Alan Dershowitz, the controversial defense attorney, and longtime Trump advocate told Newsmax (via CNN) that Castor's argument wasn't "effective advocacy" and "not the kind of argument he'd make."
Prior to defending Trump, Castor was best known for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby — and subsequently suing one of Cosby's accusers.
Bruce Castor made his legal bones as a former prosecutor in Montgomery County, PA.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bruce Castor declined to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005, back when Andrea Constand first made her claims against the disgraced actor.
This decision followed him around — and not in a good way — as he continued to seek public office, and in 2015, Constand filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Castor.
Castor subsequently claimed that Constand's lawsuit was nothing more than an attempt to disqualify him from that year's race for the district attorney's office — a race which he subsequently lost to Kevin R. Steele, who subsequently successfully prosecuted Cosby — and he counter-sued her. Castor's lawsuit was, eventually, dismissed.
David Schoen is notorious for defending organized crime "bosses."
In an interview with the Atlanta Jewish Times, David Schoen bragged about representing all sorts of colorful characters, mostly in organized crime.
"I represented all sorts of reputed mobster figures: alleged head of Russian mafia in this country, Israeli mafia, and two Italian bosses, as well a guy the government claimed was the biggest mafioso in the world," he said.
Schoen was also a friend of Jeffrey Epstein's, and he believes the disgraced financier "didn't kill himself."
In a separate interview with the Atlanta Jewish Times, David Schoen confirmed that he was a friend of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, that Epstein contacted Schoen to represent him a few days before his death, and that Schoen didn't believe that Epstein killed himself.
"I don’t believe it was suicide. … I think someone killed him. I don’t like to speculate. I’m not a conspiracy theorist," he said.
Even GOP lawmakers are unimpressed by Bruce Castor and David Schoen.
The Capitol Hill press pool (via Business Insider) is reporting that many GOP lawmakers aren't exactly impressed by Bruce Castor and David Schoen.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said that they were "disorganized, they did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand." (Cassidy also joined the Democrats as one of only 10 Republican senators to agree that impeaching Donald Trump is "constitutional.")
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said that she was "perplexed" by the "the first attorney" (Bruce Castor), and said that they were "inappropriate."
And even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is a notorious Trump defender, said that he didn't think the ex-president's lawyers "did the most effective job."
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, photographer, and publicist whose work has been featured in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.