A vandal painted “TRAITOR” on the sidewalk in front of the home of Michael van der Veen, one of the lawyers for former President Donald Trump, on Friday evening — hours after he had argued at the Senate impeachment trial.
The Chester County home of Michael van der Veen, one of Donald Trump’s defense attorneys, has been vandalized with the word “traitor” spray-painted at the edge of his driveway. https://t.co/xJczZZzN7C
— CBS Philly (@CBSPhilly) February 13, 2021
The local Philadelphia CBS affiliate reported:
The Philadelphia-area home of one of Donald Trump’s defense attorneys, Michael van der Veen, has been vandalized with graffiti. Someone spray-painted “traitor” at the end of the driveway of his Chester County home with an arrow pointed toward the house.
Detective Scott Pezick of the West Whiteland Township Police Department in Chester County said the graffiti were reported around 8 p.m. Friday at van der Veen’s home.
Many of Trump’s lawyers have been threatened or abused since the election. As Breitbart News reported in November, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis was threatened with rape. Democrats have also urged that Trump’s attorneys be disbarred.
Constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley noted:
Many attorneys supported attacks on other lawyers in the past through groups like the Lincoln Project. Now Van der Veen is under attack. https://t.co/rKPENsMNql How many professors and lawyers will now speak out in his defense? The silence is deafening. https://t.co/klLokXinCF
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 14, 2021
These were attorneys doing their jobs in representing a client. There was a time when there would be a chorus of objections to those harassing them and abusing them. Now lawyers often seem to be leading or spurring the mob to the doors of fellow lawyers.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) February 14, 2021
Van der Veen has not acknowledged the vandalism explicitly, though he told Fox News on Saturday: “My home was attacked. … my entire family, my business, my law firm are under siege right now.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is How Not to Be a Sh!thole Country: Lessons from South Africa. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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