Trump’s new impeachment lawyer previously called him a ‘f*****g crook’

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• One of former President Donald Trump’s new impeachment lawyers Michael Van der Veen was a previous legal nemesis.
• According to one of his past clients, van der Veen called Trump a ‘f*****g crook.’
• Van der Veen said that his past actions had nothing to do with his current stint as Trump’s defense lawyer.

After his legal team left him last week, former President Donald Trump has three new impeachment attorneys where one of them previously described him as a “f***ing crook” and filed a suit against him for pushing to nullify Pennsylvania mail-in votes 

Attorney Michael Van der Veen, one of Trump’s impeachment lawyers, was known to be a ‘Trump-critic.’ And that the former president was infamous for cutting ties with people who are unloyal and critical of his deeds.

In 2019, he represented student Justin Hiemstra, who was accused of attempted hacking into the IRS to get information on Trump’s tax returns.

Van der Veen argued that his client was just involved in a ‘schoolboy prank,’ but Hiemstra ended up pleading guilty and being given probation.

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hiemstra shared that van der Veen called Trump ‘a f***ing crook.’

“I’m not sure if [those comments] were made to make me feel more comfortable, or if they were his actual opinions,” he said. “He definitely came off as fairly anti-Trump in the context that I knew him.”

During Trump’s first two years in office, Van der Veen became a financial sponsor to well-known Pennsylvania Democrats such as Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., who was among the most staunch critics of the then-president, per the Washington Post.

Last August, van der Veen also represented Melvin Johnakin, an independent congressional candidate from Philadelphia who sued Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following an attempt to sabotage mail-in voting.

In a court filing, van der Veen sued “to preserve and protect the essential right to vote and prevent large-scale disenfranchisement.”

He claimed that Trump and DeJoy connived to delay mail delivery, which would result in disenfranchising urban voters which are largely Democratic bailiwicks.

The suit was settled with an agreement that mandates the postal service to discontinue any changes that would affect the delivery of mail-in ballots.

Speaking with the Philadelphia Inquirer, van der Veen said that his previous cases and past actions had no strings attached with his new venture to represent Trump as his impeachment defense lawyer.

“My firm treats all of its clients the same,” he said. “Whether they’re in a trial on a national stage, or whether they’re in the Court of Common Pleas. They all get our best representation.”

Aside from van der Veen, Trump’s new line up of impeachment attorneys includes Bruce Castor, David Schoen — all were hired last Sunday after Trump was left by his legal team.

Source: Daily Mail