Both U.S. lawyers named as Donald Trump’s defence team for his second impeachment trial have important Canadian connections: one defended Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto against racketeering murder charges and the other was the prosecutor who declined to pursue sex assault charges against Bill Cosby after the first accusations against the comedian were filed by a Canadian woman.
© Provided by National Post U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., Jan. 20, 2021.
David Schoen is an accomplished civil rights and criminal lawyer based in Alabama known for his fierce advocacy. He certainly was vocal in his defence of Vito Rizzuto, who was the most powerful Mafia boss in Canada when Schoen represented him in a Brooklyn court.
Schoen was handpicked picked in 2006 by the Rizzuto family after interviewing several attorneys; he was the one they liked the best, National Post was told at the time.
David Schoen is an accomplished civil rights and criminal lawyer based in Alabama known for his fierce advocacy. He certainly was vocal in his defence of Vito Rizzuto, who was the most powerful Mafia boss in Canada when Schoen represented him in a Brooklyn court.
Schoen was handpicked picked in 2006 by the Rizzuto family after interviewing several attorneys; he was the one they liked the best, National Post was told at the time.
)“In my view, there is no need or valid reason whatsoever for Mr. Rizzuto to be incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn, or anywhere. He is no risk of flight whatsoever and certainly no danger to anyone in any community,” Schoen said before Rizzuto’s trial for three gangland murders. The messy 1981 slayings became a rich part of underworld lore and were recreated in the movie Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.
After Rizzuto’s guilty plea and sentencing, Schoen continued his strong advocacy. “I think he was penalized very unfairly,” he said. Even after Rizzuto’s death in 2013 Schoen spoke up for his former client, saying: “He was a very honorable man.”
Loyalty is a quality the former U.S. president likely admires.
Schoen did not return a request for an interview prior to deadline, Tuesday. He told his hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Trump personally called him about the job.
“I was flattered he asked me, and I’m honored to represent him,” Schoen is quoted as saying. He is not ordinarily placed “in that category” of a Trump supporter. Last year he won a suit to get a candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the presidential ballot and he is widely lauded for his civil rights work.
After Rizzuto’s guilty plea and sentencing, Schoen continued his strong advocacy. “I think he was penalized very unfairly,” he said. Even after Rizzuto’s death in 2013 Schoen spoke up for his former client, saying: “He was a very honorable man.”
Loyalty is a quality the former U.S. president likely admires.
Schoen did not return a request for an interview prior to deadline, Tuesday. He told his hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Trump personally called him about the job.
“I was flattered he asked me, and I’m honored to represent him,” Schoen is quoted as saying. He is not ordinarily placed “in that category” of a Trump supporter. Last year he won a suit to get a candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the presidential ballot and he is widely lauded for his civil rights work.
© Phil Carpenter/Postmedia Mob boss Vito Rizzuto, during his arrest in Montreal in 2004.
Schoen likely came into Trump’s orbit when he represented Roger Stone, a Republican strategist and longtime friend and advisor to Trump. Stone was convicted in 2019 of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding and five counts of making false statements, but was pardoned by Trump as his presidency drew to a close.
Now that Schoen is representing Trump, his connection with another former client is making headlines: Jeffrey Epstein.
Schoen had met with the man accused of underage sex trafficking several times to discuss leading his defence team. They last met for five hours mapping out a legal strategy a few days before Epstein died in jail, ruled a suicide but with lingering questions.
“I think it was homicide, but I don’t know who killed him,” Schoen earlier said in a Discovery Channel documentary.
Schoen likely came into Trump’s orbit when he represented Roger Stone, a Republican strategist and longtime friend and advisor to Trump. Stone was convicted in 2019 of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding and five counts of making false statements, but was pardoned by Trump as his presidency drew to a close.
Now that Schoen is representing Trump, his connection with another former client is making headlines: Jeffrey Epstein.
Schoen had met with the man accused of underage sex trafficking several times to discuss leading his defence team. They last met for five hours mapping out a legal strategy a few days before Epstein died in jail, ruled a suicide but with lingering questions.
“I think it was homicide, but I don’t know who killed him,” Schoen earlier said in a Discovery Channel documentary.
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Schoen’s co-lead counsel, Bruce L. Castor, Jr., is a former District Attorney of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Cosby lived and is best known for declining to prosecute the now-disgraced comedian.
The eventual unmasking of Cosby, who was a towering cultural figure, began in 2005, when a woman in Pickering, Ont., east of Toronto, reported a sexual assault to her local police.
Andrea Constand said Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home the year before, when she was working at Temple University in Philadelphia, where Cosby was on the school’s Board of Trustees.
Her accusations were looked into by Castor’s office, but charges were not laid. Castor has defended his decision.
© MATT ROURKE This photo combination shows Andrea Constand, left, walking to the courtroom during Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial on June 6, 2017, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa.; and Bill Cosby, right, arriving for his sexual assault trial on June 16, 2017, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa.
“My instinct tells me he did molest Andrea Constand and my instinct tells me he was getting away with it for a long time,” Castor told National Post in an interview in 2014.
“I had to make a decision based on what the law requires.”
In 2018, Cosby was eventually convicted of assaulting Constand after dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations.
Castor did not respond for a request for an interview but released a written statement through Trump’s office.
“I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th president. The strength of our constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history,” Castor said. “It will triumph over partisanship yet again.”
Trump said Schoen and Castor bring “national profiles and significant trial experience in high-profile cases,” in a written statement.
Trump’s second impeachment trial begins in the Senate next week on a charge that he unleashed an insurrection when his supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, trying to prevent Joe Biden being officially declared the winner of the presidential election.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys
“My instinct tells me he did molest Andrea Constand and my instinct tells me he was getting away with it for a long time,” Castor told National Post in an interview in 2014.
“I had to make a decision based on what the law requires.”
In 2018, Cosby was eventually convicted of assaulting Constand after dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations.
Castor did not respond for a request for an interview but released a written statement through Trump’s office.
“I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th president. The strength of our constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history,” Castor said. “It will triumph over partisanship yet again.”
Trump said Schoen and Castor bring “national profiles and significant trial experience in high-profile cases,” in a written statement.
Trump’s second impeachment trial begins in the Senate next week on a charge that he unleashed an insurrection when his supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, trying to prevent Joe Biden being officially declared the winner of the presidential election.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys
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