Trump Impeachment Lawyer Speaks Out: ‘Not Worried What Other People Think’

Then-President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas on Jan. 12, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The lawyer who is slated to defend former President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial next month explained his reasoning.

“It’s who I am. It’s what I do. It’s all about the rule of law in the Constitution,” Karl “Butch” Bowers of South Carolina told the Washington Post. “I’m not worried what other people think,” he told the paper, adding he hasn’t been following the media coverage about the trial.

On Tuesday, 45 GOP senators voted to say that the impeachment trial against Trump is unconstitutional because the former president is out of office. To convict a president, the Senate requires 67 votes, meaning that 17 Republicans would have to peel away from their party to join the Democrats.

Bowers did not elaborate on his defense of Trump, who was impeached in the House for allegedly inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6.

“You'll see our case when we present it,” he told the Post, “and I think the facts and the law will speak for themselves.”

In the interview, Bowers said he would have enough time to prepare a defense—coming about two weeks before the trial is scheduled to begin.

“Just like in any other endeavor, sometimes you get a ton of time as a lawyer, sometimes you get a short period of time, and you just adjust as needed,” he said.

It comes as another lawyer was reportedly added to Trump’s impeachment defense team.

The American College of Trial Lawyers’s chairman, Wallace Lightsey, wrote that former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, Deborah Barbier, was hired to join Bowers.

“Regardless of one’s personal view of Mr. Trump, it says a great deal about Debbie’s skill and reputation as a trial lawyer that she was chosen for this task,” Lightsey wrote in an email, according to The Associated Press. “We know you will acquit yourself well (even though some of us may be hoping that your client is not).”

Trump’s second impeachment trial is slated to start the week of Feb. 8.

For his part, Trump said that his speech on Jan. 6 to supporters violated no laws. Meanwhile, he called on supporters not to engage in violent acts and later condemned the rioters who breached the U.S. Capitol, causing members of both the House and Senate to flee—halting the electoral certification.

Because only five GOP senators joined Democrats in a procedural vote to pursue the impeachment trial on Tuesday, it appears highly unlikely Trump will be convicted. A number of Republicans said it’s unconstitutional to impeach a president once he’s left office, although many have condemned Trump for his speech on Jan. 6.

Meanwhile, any GOP lawmaker who votes to convict Trump is sure to face intense political blowback from their conservative base as Trump remains the most popular figure among Republicans.