CNN’s Jim Acosta: Trump Wants To Use Impeachment Trial ‘To Tell The World The Election Was Stolen’

As former President Donald Trump prepares to go on trial in the U. S. Senate for the second time, CNN’s Jim Acosta says the former president plans to use the trial to once again “tell the world the election was stolen.”

Acosta, appearing on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, said sources on Capitol Hill said “many Republicans are uneasy with Trump’s apparent plan to peddle his election lies” at the trial, which will get live coverage on cable and broadcast news.

Acosta says Republican discomfort over the impeachment strategy may also explain why Trump’s impeachment defense team quit just days before the trial is set to begin, with several reports indicated the lawyers objected to plans to repeat claims of election fraud.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig says “something has gone terribly wrong on the (Trump) defense team…they would not abandon a client this close to trial without darn good reason.” Writing at CNN.com, Honig says “any defense attorney holds a broad obligation to represent his or her client zealously,” but the American Bar Association makes it clear that “it would be unethical for any attorney to raise an argument ‘that he knows to be false.’ The ‘rigged election’ narrative certainly fits that description.”

On Monday, an email headlined “45th President Donald J. Trump Announces Legal Team” told reporters two new lawyers, David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr., would take over the impeachment defense. Neither lawyer has said whether they would support the president’s strategy or not.

“It is an honor to represent the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, and the United States Constitution,” said Schoen in a statement.