February 01, 2021
Bruce Castor, a former prosecutor best known for declining to charge disgraced comedian Bill Cosby, will defend former President Donald Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial.
Castor, a former Montgomery County district attorney, will serve alongside Georgia-based lawyer David Schoen on Trump's legal defense team when the trial gets underway next week, according to the New York Times.
Castor, 59, believes that the impeachment trial "is unconstitutional," according to a news release.
"I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President," Castor said, according to CNN. "The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for the ages, and it will triumph over partisanship yet again, and always."
Trump's decision to hire Castor and Schoen came after he parted ways with five lawyers on his defense team. Trump wants his legal team to focus on his baseless claims of voter fraud during the election rather than the constitutionality of convicting a former president, according to CNN.
An Abington native, Castor served as Montgomery County's district attorney from 2000 to 2008. The Republican refused to prosecute Cosby in 2005 after Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, reported that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Elkins Park home. Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 after the case was reopened.
Castor served on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 2008 to 2016. He became Pennsylvania's first solicitor general in March 2016 and served in the position until September 2016. Castor briefly served as the state's acting attorney general in August 2016, when Kathleen Kane resigned.
Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, who represents most of Montgomery County, also will play a significant role in Trump's impeachment trial.
Dean is one of nine Democratic lawmakers who have been named an impeachment manager. Impeachment managers are responsible for making the case to the U.S. Senate that a president should be convicted.
Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives last month on charges that he incited the deadly insurrection against the U.S Capitol on Jan. 6. He is the only president in history to be impeached twice.
A conviction requires a two-thirds of the Senate to vote in favor of impeachment, but that appears unlikely. Only five Republicans, including Pat Toomey, voted in favor of the impeachment trial moving forward. The other 45 Senate Republicans objected to the proceedings.
A conviction could lead to Trump being banned from running for federal office again.
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