Monica Lewinksy was among those expressing shock Friday morning after it was announced that Ken Starr and Robert Ray—both of whom served as special prosecutors in the investigation that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in the 1990s—were appointed by President Donald Trump to be part of his legal defense team during the U.S. Senate's impeachment trial.
this is definitely an “are you fucking kidding me?” kinda day.
— Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) January 17, 2020
As Politico reports, Starr and Ray, along with Harvard Law School's Alan Dershowitz and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, will "serve as clean-up hitters behind White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow" for Trump's six-person team of lawyers.
Trump's legal "dream team" left other critics also unimpressed:
Pretty sure the last time Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr were on the same legal team was when they were working to keep Jeffery Epstein out of prison in Florida https://t.co/g1ibM1VCqM
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— Rob Cohen (@Rob_Coh) January 17, 2020
I get why Trump thinks this is a clever legal dream team. But I'd bet this is going to backfire in a big way. For everything Starr says to defend Trump, there will be clips of him taking the opposite position against Clinton. It will only underscore the Republican hypocrisy. https://t.co/Q2w4kZyqwH
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 17, 2020
"Of all the lawyers in the country, Trump chose Ken Starr—who was fired from Baylor University over a rape scandal—and Alan Dershowitz—who helped pedophile rapist Jeffrey Epstein stay out of prison," tweeted Keith Boykin, a political commentator for CNN. "That's the message Trump wants to send for his impeachment?"
