Trump Lawyers Accuse House Impeachment Managers of Intimidation: ‘How Dare You’

Michael van der Veen, one of the attorneys defending former President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, accused House impeachment managers Friday of attempting to intimidate Trump’s lawyers.

Van der Veen noted that lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had introduced a letter from 140 law professors who claimed that Trump’s First Amendment defense was not only wrong, but “frivolous.” That, he said, had specific consequences:

The House managers have made several references to this letter, signed by 140 partisan law professors, calling Mr. Trump‘s First Amendment defense legally frivolous. This is really an outrageous attempt to intimidate Mr. Trump’s lawyers. Whenever a lawyer advances a truly frivolous argument, they may violate professional ethical rules and could be subject to discipline. This letter is a direct threat to my law license, my career, and my family’s financial well-being. These law professors should be ashamed of themselves, and so should the House managers.

How dare you? 

Do you really hate Donald Trump so much that you’re willing to destroy good, hard-working people’s lives? People that are only doing their jobs, and frankly, as counsel of an accused, fulfilling a constitutional role? It’s astounding, really. I‘m a citizen, not a politician. I know these First Amendment arguments are not anywhere close to frivolous. They are completely meritorious! Interestingly, the law professors’ letter was issued on February 5, three days before we even filed our legal brief in this matter and they ignored landmark, bedrock Supreme Court cases directly addressing this issue.

As Breitbart News has reported, left-wing groups and elected Democrats have tried to intimidate and threaten Trump’s lawyers throughout his challenge to the 2020 election results. Some of his attorneys quit under the pressure.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is How Not to Be a Sh!thole Country: Lessons from South Africa. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.