On Tuesday, every U.S. senator is expected to be sworn in as jurors in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump and, according to USA Today, the former president will face a slew of accusations and possibly witnesses against him but won't have much help on his own side.
With former Trump impeachment lawyers Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone out of the picture this go around, the former president will be relying on attorney Butch Bowers of South Carolina who once represented former GOP lawmaker Mark Sanford during an impeachment trial (which he won) but later turned into an ethics probe.
Outside of Bowers, Trump will find his support slim with many GOP senators taking a hands-off approach while at the same time indicating that they will likely not impeach the former president.
As one GOP consultant explained, Trump is thin on support because he is considered damaged goods and doesn't have the weight of still being president to use as reason to join his team.
According to Alex Conant, a GOP strategist who worked for Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign, "It's much easier for a sitting president to find aides than a former president."
"I think everything about this case, especially how politically toxic Trump is with a lot of people, means there's not a lot to be gained by representing Trump right now," he added.
Conant also suggested that the defense Trump is going to present is leaving GOP lawmakers cold.
"Anything is possible with Trump. I just don't think that Republican senators are going to be sympathetic to the fraud claims," he explained. "That isn't going to help his standing in the Senate. I'm honestly curious what Trump does here."
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