Philadelphia lawyer Michael T. van der Veen filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump last year alleging in federal court that his role in undermining the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and baseless claims of mail-in voter fraud would disenfranchise Pennsylvania citizens.
The long-time personal injury lawyer became part of the Trump team when the firm he founded, van der Veen, O’Neill, Hartshorn and Levin, hired Bruce Castor.
Now van der Veen’s name and signature are on the impeachment filings that claim Trump’s right to free speech about “voting irregularities” is his ticket to a not-guilty verdict in the impeachment trial.
Last year’s lawsuit filed by van der Veen against Trump and U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy claimed that operational changes made to the USPS would make it harder for Pennsylvania voters to vote by mail in the middle of the pandemic.
The suit was settled in late November, part of a broader effort in 19 states and D.C. to block the Postal Service from making changes that could delay the mail.
Van der Veen described DeJoy as a “Republican Party megadonor” and also took aim at Trump’s conspiracy theories designed to damage the integrity of mail-in voting.
Sources at Washington Post and Law and Crime.