Attorneys Michael van der Veen and Bruce Castor who just months ago condemned Capitol rioters in defense of former President Donald Trump during a Senate trial over allegations that he incited the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, are now defending at least three people charged in connection with the Capitol breach.
In February, while securing Trump’s acquittal, van der Veen and Castor had condemned the rioters who they said in a 78-page brief “wrought unprecedented havoc, mayhem and death,” to the Capitol. The attorneys also declared that the rioters’ actions “deserve robust and swift investigation and prosecution.”
The attorneys’ representation of the Capitol riot defendants, was first reported by NPR, which identified a Florida man with alleged ties to the Oath Keepers as among van der Veen’s clients. The defendant, Jason Dolan, joins a group of suspected members of the militia group who face conspiracy charges in the Capitol attack.
Castor, whose performance during Trump’s trial had initially been widely criticized by Republican lawmakers, is also representing two defendants.
His clients are mother and daughter, Yevgemya Malimon and Kristina Malimon, who were arrested on the evening of Jan. 6 after failing to follow repeated police orders to disperse in violation of a curfew order, court documents said. Both women face charges for unlawful entry of U.S. Capitol grounds.
Before the Capitol attack, Kristina Malimon had served as the vice chairwoman of the Young Republicans of Oregon and had been an outspoken Trump supporter on social media where she posted images of herself pictured alongside Trump allies, including Roger Stone and Donald Trump Jr.
Neither Kristina Malimon, nor her mother, have been accused of committing violence or breaching the Capitol building. They have pleaded not guilty in Washington, D.C., Superior Court.
It’s unclear how the onetime Trump defense attorneys came to represent clients charged in connection with the events on Jan. 6, and how, if at all, their experience in the impeachment trial could shape their legal arguments.
