Donald Trump may have turned to the lawyer who spoke at his now-infamous rally hours before the violence at the US Capitol to defend him in the impeachment trial.

Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that John Eastman, who stood alongside Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on 6 January, may have been hired for the defense of the outgoing president.

The controversial conservative lawyer supported Mr. Trump’s baseless allegations of voters’ fraud at the rally, the event which is being held responsible for inciting violence at the US Capitol as Mr. Giuliani called for “trial by combat” in the same rally.

Postulations began circulating after Mr. Eastman resigned from Chapman University’s law school which had criticized his presence at the rally.

The lawyer had said he would “consider helping” the president if asked.

“If the President of the United States asked me to consider helping him, I would certainly give it consideration,” said Mr. Eastman.

The ratified impeachment article is now awaiting transmission to a Senate, controlled for the next couple of weeks by Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell.

However, Mr. McConnel has said that the trial can not take place before 19 January, a day before Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony, and he will reportedly not agree to a proposal to reconvene the chamber for an emergency session next week.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has ordered his staff to put his lawyer Mr. Giuliani's legal fee on hold, as the president is irritated after being impeached again.

"Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and our movement," he said. "Making America Great Again has always been about defending the rule of law, supporting the men and women of law enforcement, and upholding our nation’s most sacred traditions and values,” added Mr. Trump.