--- title: Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr to Join Trump Impeachment Team description: The White House impeachment legal defense team is adding lawyers Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and Robert Ray, according to a source canonical: https://time.com/5767233/alan-dershowitz-kenneth-starr-to-join-trump-impeachment-defense-team/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-01-17T15:38:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:06.579Z article:section: Politics og:title: Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr to Join Trump Impeachment Team og:description: The White House impeachment legal defense team is adding lawyers Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and Robert Ray, according to a source og:url: https://time.com/5767233/alan-dershowitz-kenneth-starr-to-join-trump-impeachment-defense-team/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae085c5b26507e40/698a0901929fad4ef1bf58ff/starr-dershowitz-diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1820 og:image:height: 1024 og:image:alt: starr-dershowitz-diptych og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr to Join Trump Impeachment Team twitter:description: The White House impeachment legal defense team is adding lawyers Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and Robert Ray, according to a source twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae085c5b26507e40/698a0901929fad4ef1bf58ff/starr-dershowitz-diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr to Join Trump Impeachment Defense Team > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=43e9442f-eb53-413f-a5e9-f679cd42290b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal [Watch (HLS stream): A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HPrA9SSS.m3u8) (4:55)  _Published 2018-05-04. In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. In the 20 years since, those feelings have only grown more complicated._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 17, 2020 3:38 PM UTC  Attorney Alan Dershowitz and former U.S. solicitor general and independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Attorney Alan Dershowitz and former U.S. solicitor general and independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. Richard Drew—AP; Sarah A. Miller—Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 17, 2020 3:38 PM UTC The White House impeachment legal defense team is taking shape as [the Senate trial is set to begin next week](https://time.com/5764880/how-trump-impeachment-trial-works/), adding lawyers Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and Robert Ray to the group, according to a source familiar with the plans. The source tells TIME that White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow will take the lead on the defense. But the addition of constitutional law expert Dershowitz, former independent counsel Starr —whose work led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton— and Ray, who succeeded Starr at the Office of the Independent Counsel under Clinton, adds three veteran lawyers to the team with some star power. “While Professor Dershowitz is non partisan when it comes to the constitution—he opposed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and voted for Hillary Clinton— he believes the issues at stake go to the heart of our enduring Constitution,” read a statement tweeted on Friday by Dershowitz, who has occasionally advised Trump. “He is participating in this impeachment trial to defend the integrity of the Constitution and to prevent the creation of a dangerous constitutional precedent.” The members of the legal defense team, which is also aided by Cipollone’s deputies Patrick Philbin and Michael Purpura, have been preparing for what they hope to be a speedy trial. A senior administration official told reporters earlier this week that it is “extraordinarily unlikely” that the trial runs beyond two weeks, in part because the administration doesn’t want additional witnesses called before the Senate. “We don’t think that there’s going to be any need for witnesses in this trial,” the senior administration official said. “We think, at that point, they wouldn’t need to hear anything else because this is an extraordinarily weak case for the House managers.” If [Democrats are able to wrangle enough votes](https://time.com/5765411/impeachment-managers-senate-trial/) in the Senate to call former national security adviser John Bolton to testify, Trump’s legal defense may put up a fight over executive privilege. “It would be extraordinary to have the national security advisor testifying about his communications directly with the President about foreign policy and national security matters,” the senior administration official said on the call with reporters. Trump’s legal team is prepared to defend him by advancing arguments that there was no crime laid out in the abuse of power impeachment article, and there was no obstruction of Congress based on a strong view of executive power. (Many legal scholars think an[ impeachable offense does not need to be a specific crime](https://time.com/5686104/trump-ukraine-call-impeachment-offense/).) “These are the weakest [articles](https://time.com/5747293/articles-of-impeachment-against-donald-trump/) of impeachment that have ever been passed in any presidential impeachment. They state no violation of a crime, no violation of any law,” said the senior administration official. “The idea that it is obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress for the President to assert constitutionally grounded privileges that protect the separation of powers is absurd.” The Senate impeachment trial is set to begin in earnest on January 21. ## Transcript In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. Here's a guide to how it happened. In 1994, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment, arguing that he propositioned her when he was governor. A legal group working on the case in 1998 received an anonymous tip that the president had a relationship with the Lewinsky and intern first chief of staff that piqued their interest, since it could be used to argue this was a pattern of behavior. On January 7th, 1998, the Lewinsky filed a sworn affidavit in the Jones lawsuit saying she had never had a relationship with Clinton, but she did not know that a close friend, Linda Tripp, had been keeping conversations with her about the affair. Five days after the affidavit was filed, Tripp gave independent counsel Kenneth Starr, 20 hours of taped phone calls. Starr had been investigating the Clintons of a real estate venture known as Whitewater, but the recordings allowed him to get permission on January 16th to investigate whether Lewinsky had lied under oath in a deposition in the Jones suit the next day. Clinton denied the affair as well. This turned out to be a key moment of his presidency. That same day, online news outlet The Drudge Report published a story claiming that Newsweek was sitting on a story about Clinton's affair with an intern. It later published another story that Lewinsky had a blue cocktail dress with Clinton's bodily fluids on it. Clinton again denied the affair, this time on nationally broadcast television, saying, I. Did not have sexual relations with that woman. Ms.. Lewinsky. On January 27th, Hillary Clinton echoed the denial, arguing in an interview on the Today Show that the charges came from a vast. Right wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. As the month drew to a close, a federal judge ruled that the Jones lawyers could not look into the Lewinsky claim as part of their lawsuit. But the Starr investigation continued on a separate path. In early February, Lewinsky's mother appeared before a grand jury. She had been suspected of encouraging her daughter to lie to Jones's lawyers. After three days of questioning, Starr granted her immunity in exchange for handing over the blue dress. As the summer began, the July issue of Vanity Fair appeared on newsstands featuring glamor shots of Lewinsky, a PR decision that was harshly criticized. On July 27, Lewinsky met with Starr's prosecutors in New York City, and they announced an immunity deal for her the next day. Clinton then agreed to testify before the grand jury voluntarily. In August, the president provided a blood sample to compare his DNA to the stains in the blue dress. That night, Lewinsky and Clinton testified to the grand jury with the president's testimony taken by closed circuit TV. He admitted to inappropriate intimate contact, but also said that he had given accurate testimony previously. Famously quibbling over the definition of is. Later that evening, he spoke to the nation in a televised address. In a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate. I did not volunteer their information. Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact. It was wrong. The next month, Congress received two copies of Stars 445 page report on the investigation and supporting evidence. The Star Report, along with transcripts of Lewinsky trips, were later released to the public. On October eight, the House of Representatives voted to begin an impeachment inquiry. Despite the controversy and the impeachment, President Clinton remained popular in polls and Hillary Clinton saw her poll numbers rise as well. During the midterm elections in November, Democrats did unusually drop in mid-November. Clinton settled the sexual harassment lawsuit with Jones, which he kickstarted the scandal, paying her $850,000 and admitting nothing. During the lame duck session of Congress in the summer 19th, the House voted to impeach Clinton and to charges that he committed perjury in his August 17 federal grand jury testimony and that he prevented, obstructed and impeded the administration of justice. As 1999 open, the Senate began its constitutionally mandated impeachment trial with the Supreme Court's chief justice presiding for February 1213 months after the scandal began. The Senate voted to acquit Clinton on both charges. The respondent, William Jefferson Clinton, president of the United States, is not guilty as charged. Later that day. Clinton apologized to the American public in an address from the White House. I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5767233/alan-dershowitz-kenneth-starr-to-join-trump-impeachment-defense-team/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5767233/alan-dershowitz-kenneth-starr-to-join-trump-impeachment-defense-team/"},"headline":"Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr to Join Trump Impeachment Defense Team","datePublished":"2020-01-17T15:38:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:06.579Z","description":"The White House impeachment legal defense team is adding lawyers Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr and Robert Ray, according to a source","url":"https://time.com/5767233/alan-dershowitz-kenneth-starr-to-join-trump-impeachment-defense-team/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae085c5b26507e40/698a0901929fad4ef1bf58ff/starr-dershowitz-diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae085c5b26507e40/698a0901929fad4ef1bf58ff/starr-dershowitz-diptych.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"starr-dershowitz-diptych","caption":"starr-dershowitz-diptych","creditText":"Richard Drew—AP; Sarah A. 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