--- 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. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. ## 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. ```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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