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'Never-before-seen' footage? Sources say Trump lawyers were given all evidence before trial started

Trump Impeachment
Posted at 3:12 PM, Feb 12, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-12 15:12:51-05

Multiple reports say former President Donald Trump’s attorney David Schoen was not telling the truth Friday when he said their team was not given the chance to review evidence presented by the House impeachment managers.

While presenting their defense Friday afternoon, Schoen implied that he and his team were not able to review evidence in the case. He wondered out loud why the video had not been released earlier.

“President Trump and his counsel were given no opportunity to review evidence or question it’s propriety,” Schoen said. He then showed a headline from a media report calling the footage “never seen before.”

“Why was this footage never seen before? Shouldn’t the subject of an impeachment trial, this impeachment trial, President Trump, have the right to see the so-called new evidence against him?” Schoen asked during his arguments.

However, shortly after he made the statement, multiple media outlets, including Yamiche Alcindor at PBS, confirmed House managers shared all evidence they planned to present with the defense. The two sides had agreed to trial rules that included sharing evidence before the trial started.

A source told reporter Nicolle Wallace that Schoen lied.

"Every piece of evidence, including new videos, were given to the defense team before the trial. They could have played them. He lied when he said they never saw them,” MSNBC reports from their source.