Personal injury specialist Michael van der Veen will go down in history as one of former US president Donald Trump’s main defence lawyers in the US Senate trial for his role in the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection – for better or for worse.
Now a staunch defender of the former president, in 2020 Mr van der Veen filed a lawsuit against Mr Trump while he was in office, over mail-in voting fraud claims, according to a court document filed in the eastern district of Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit accused Mr Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of cutting back staff hours, suspending overtime and removing “hundreds of high-volume mail-processing machines from facilities across the country".
Mailboxes in areas with a high concentration of “minority, low-income and Democratic voters", were also removed at a time when mail-in votes were crucial because of the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdown.
Now, Mr van der Veen is part of the team defending the former president in his second impeachment trial, offering evidence that critics said painted an incomplete picture of Mr Trump's actions leading up to, and during the January 6 events.
In a largely partisan vote, he was cleared of incitement charges.
The trial will continue on Saturday for closing arguments.
