The home of Donald Trump's impeachment lawyer Michael van der Veen was vandalized with graffiti hours before the former president's historic acquittal on Saturday.
Attorney Van der Veen was seen hugging and fist-bumping other members of the team after the Senate trial.
Trump's legal team called the acquittal a 'total win' after the Senate voted 57-43 to find him not guilty of inciting the deadly riot at the US Capitol on January 6.
'We're going to Disney World,' van der Veen said, USA Today's Christal Hayes reported.
But hours earlier, vandals painted the word 'Traitor' in large red letters at the entrance to Van der Veen's suburban Philadelphia home, with an arrow pointing to his house.
The home of Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen was defaced with the word 'Traitor' on Friday
Video shows the word 'traitor' spray painted in red on the driveway, with an arrow pointing to the home
Cops aid that van der Veen's home now has private security and police have been showing up 'to deter anything from happening'
The graffiti was reported around 8pm on Friday, according to Detective Scott Pezick of the West Whiteland Township Police Department in Chester County.
No arrests have been made, Pezick said Saturday, adding that the home now has private security.
He said: 'We've been showing a police presence to deter anything from happening.'
After the acquittal Saturday, Van der Veen said his home was attacked as the trial was ongoing and that his business is 'under siege,' CNN reported.
'My home was attacked, I'd rather not go into that. To answer your question, my entire family, my business, my law firm are under siege right now. I don't really want to go into that though,' he said.
A group of demonstrators gathered at some point outside van der Veen's law office in downtown Philadelphia, calling him a 'fascist' and chanting, 'When van der Veen lies, what do you do? Convict. Convict,' the Inquirer reported.
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen was seen fist-bumping other members of the legal team after the acquittal
Defense lawyer Michael van der Veen, center, celebrates in a Senate subway train car after the acquittal vote
Van der Veen was also pictured hugging other members of the team after the historic impeachment win
Van der Veen was overheard by pool reporters telling members of the team: 'We're going to Disney World'
Michael van der Veen, lawyer for former President Donald Trump leaves the Capitol after the Senate voted to acquit in Trump's second impeachment trial
nse lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump Michael van der Veen arrives to offer remarks to reporters after the U.S. Senate voted 57-43 to acquit former President Donald J. Trump
After his acquittal. Trump called his second impeachment trial the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in the history of our country'
Van der Veen drew laughter from senators Saturday when he said any witness depositions could be done at his 'Philly-delphia' office.
Mike van der Veen, during impassioned remarks from the Senate floor during the fifth day of impeachment trial, pronounced his hometown Philadelphia with an accent, which sparked prolonged laughter from the lawmakers.
He also said if House managers were to call witness depositions, which ultimately did not happen, then he would 'slap subpoenas on a good number of people.'
'I don't know how many civil lawyers are here, but that's the way it works, folks,' van der Veen said in explanation, appearing confused over the laughs. 'When you want somebody's deposition, you send a notice of deposition, and they appear at the place where their notice says, that's civil process.'
The Senate quickly voted to acquit Donald Trump after House impeachment managers decided not to call witnesses
Michael van der Veen, an attorney for former US President Donald J. Trump, makes his closing argument during Trump's second impeachment trial
David Schoen, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, speaks during the second impeachment trial of Trump in the Senate
'I don't know why you're laughing,' he said. 'It is civil process. That is the way lawyers do it, we send notices of deposition –'
Van der Veen was then interrupted by Senate President pro tempore Patrick Leahy who called the chamber back to order as the bipartisan laughter persisted.
'I would remind everybody that we will have order in the chamber during these proceedings,' the Democratic Senate leader said.
'I haven't laughed at any of you, and there's nothing laughable here,' van der Veen said.
Pennsylvania's Republican Senator Pat Toomey was seen by reporters in the chamber gallery giving a hearty laugh to the suggestion while chatting with seat mate Kevin Cramer, Republican senator from North Dakota.
Trump's lawyers celebrated the former president's acquittal on Saturday, claiming house impeachment managers 'didn't have a case.'
Van der Veen told reporters that House impeachment managers who initially voted to call witnesses in the trial were 'like a dying animal that we had trapped in the corner,' CNN reported.
House impeachment managers ultimately called no witnesses to testify in the trial.
'What had happened was the day before we demolished their case, and they were like a dying animal that we had trapped in the corner. And so this morning their last gasp were swinging out at us trying to save their case, and it didn't work,' van der Veen said.
He added: 'They shouldn't have brought this impeachment from the beginning. It really does stem from political hatred.'
Van der Veen did not tell the outlet if he had spoken with Trump since the acquittal vote, but said the former President 'had a good day in court today.'
'He was vindicated. He was found not guilty. The political witch hunt that they had, that the Democrats had thrown at him was defeated, so he should feel quite pleased,' van der Veen said.
Members of the Trump family also celebrated the victory.
'NOT GUILTY. Now maybe it would be nice if the senators stopped putting on show trials for free air time and actually started working for the American people for a change,' Donald J. Trump Jr. tweeted.
'Beating these establishment clowns twice after years of BS and under unprecedented circumstances is a badge of honor.'
He added: 'Let's impeach RINOs from the Republican Party!!!'
His brother, Eric Trump, simply tweeted '2-0,' and latter posted a statement from his father.
Eric Trump tweeted 2-0 after his father, former President Donald Trump, was acquitted by the Senate Saturday
Donald Trump Jr. sent out a series of tweets after the Senate voted to acquit his father in an impeachment trial for a second time
Donald Trump Jr. also posted on Instagram, saying that 'hoax impeachment part deux is over'
Trump called his second impeachment trial the 'Greatest Witch Hunt in the history of our country.'
'I want to first thank my team of dedicated lawyers and others for their tireless work upholding justice and defending truth,' Trump said.
He added: 'No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago.'
The trial had been momentarily thrown into confusion on Saturday when senators suddenly wanted to consider potential witnesses, particularly concerning Trump's actions as the mob rioted.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the House impeachment manager, said that his team would seek testimony from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Washington, on Saturday morning.
Raskin wanted Beutler, who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump, to testify about her knowledge of a conversation between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the former president during the Capitol attack.
McCarthy had allegedly told Beutler that he had urged Trump to call of the riots on television but he refused to do so for hours, Axios reported.
The Senate then voted 55-45 to call witnesses, including Lindsey Graham - who ultimately voted to acquit Trump.
However, House impeachment managers compromised with the defense team and agreed to take a Buetler's statement for the record rather than calling witnesses.
Having witnesses testify would have likely caused the impeachment trial to drag on for weeks and prolonged proceedings that could have significantly delayed President Joe Biden's emerging legislative agenda.
Coming amid the searing COVID-19 crisis, the Biden White House is trying to rush pandemic relief through Congress.
Biden has hardly weighed in on the proceedings and was spending the weekend with family at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland.
Saturday's verdict will certainly influence the future the senators sworn to deliver impartial justice as jurors. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats to convict, but it was far from the two-third threshold required.
The Republican senators who joined Democrats in voting to find Trump guilty include Richard Burr (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Ben Sasse (Neb.) and Pat Toomey (Pa.).
Though he was acquitted of the sole charge of incitement of insurrection, it was easily the largest number of senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment count of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Even after voting to acquit, the Republican leader Mitch McConnell condemned the former president as 'practically and morally responsible' for the insurrection.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tore into Donald Trump after voting with 42 other Republicans to acquit him of 'incitement of insurrection' – but then immediately argued the former president is solely to blame for Capitol storming.
McConnell contended Trump could not be convicted because he was gone from the White House.
'President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office,' McConnell said in Senate floor remarks.
McConnell did, however, suggest that Trump should still somehow be held accountable for his words and actions.
'He didn't get away with anything, yet,' McConnell said. 'We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation and former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi crashed the House impeachment manager's post-trial press conference Saturday to rage against McConnell.
'It had not been my intention to come to this press availability,' Pelosi said as she spoke to reporters on the fifth and final day of the Senate proceedings.
'But what we saw today was a cowardly group of Republicans who apparently have no options because they were afraid to defend their job – respect the institution in which they serve.'
She continued: 'But why I came over was because I listened to Mitch McConnell.'
Pelosi angrily recounted the events of January where McConnell, who was still Senate majority leader at the time, refused to accept the impeachment article against Trump before Joe Biden's inauguration.
'So for him to get up there and make this indictment against the president and then say, 'but I can't vote for it because it's after the fact.' The fact that he established! The fact that he established that it could not be delivered after the inauguration.'
Van der Veen is not the only person to have their home targeted by political vandals in the last few months.
Vandals also targeted the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate on the opening days of the New Year as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to people to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Spray paint on then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's door in Kentucky read, 'WERES MY MONEY,' and 'MITCH KILLS THE POOR' was scrawled over a window. A profanity directed at the Republican senator was painted under the mailbox.
At House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco, someone spray-painted graffiti and left a pig's head and fake blood.
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