WASHINGTON — An attorney for Donald Trump falsely claimed during his impeachment trial Friday that the Democrats prosecuting the case withheld key evidence from the ex-president’s legal team, according to a senior congressional aide familiar with the matter.
David Schoen, one of Trump’s three defense lawyers, told senators at the unprecedented trial that the ex-president’s team was not privy to the previously unseen surveillance footage of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that the House impeachment managers showed during Wednesday’s proceeding.
But a senior Democratic aide for the impeachment managers disputed Schoen’s claim.
“The Trump team was given the full trial record, including ALL video and audio used, prior to the start of the trial,” the aide said.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team did not return a request for comment.
Making false statements before Congress is usually frowned upon, and Democratic senators may ask Schoen to clarify during the trial’s questioning session.
Aside from pushing accusations about evidence withholding, Schoen and the other Trump attorneys repeatedly claimed the managers manipulated video clips of the incendiary speech the former president delivered before the deadly assault on the Capitol.
“We have reason to believe the House managers manipulated evidence and selectively edited footage,” Schoen said, without elaborating.
The Trump attorneys rested their case after less than four hours of defense arguments, signaling the ex-president is confident enough Republicans won’t vote to convict him.
While Schoen faced accusations of making false claims, one of his fellow attorneys, Bruce Castor, said any lawyer who provides incorrect information about one issue generally does so as a habit.
“False in one thing, false in everything,” Castor said.
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