The Philadelphia-area home of Michael van der Veen, former President Trump’s impeachment lawyer, was vandalized amid Trump’s second impeachment trial last week.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, vandals broke windows and spray-painted “TRAITOR” on the driveway of his suburban Philadelphia home Friday night. The vandalism occurred while van der Veen was in Washington D.C. defending Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial following the deadly Capitol insurrection last month. Van der Veen took to the Senate floor and argued that Trump’s second impeachment trial was “constitutional cancel culture.” Trump was acquitted by the Senate on Saturday.
ABC News reported that police said the vandalism occurred around 8 p.m. on Friday atl van der Veen’s suburban Philadelphia home. Detective Scott Pezick of the West Whiteland Township Police Department told ABC News on Sunday that no arrests have been made.
Pezick told ABC News that van der Veen has hired to protect the residence, and there has been increased police presence the Trump impeachment lawyer’s neighborhood. According to ABC News, Pezick said van der Veen’s wife reported the vandalism to police.
Pezick told ABC News that the graffiti was the only sign of vandalism officers found on the van der Veen’s property.
Van der Veen briefly brought up the vandalism of his home briefly during a Fox News interview on Saturday.
“My home was attacked. I’d rather not go into that,” van der Veen said. “My entire family, my business, my law firm are under siege right now.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that a group of demonstrators gathered over the weekend outside of van der Veen’s law office in downtown Philadelphia. Protesters reportedly decried van der Veen by calling him a “fascist” and chanting: “When van der Veen lies, what do you do? Convict. Convict.”
The vandalism to van der Veen’s home comes about a month after the homes of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in Kentucky and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) home in San Francisco were graffitied.
