Former President Donald Trump was extremely displeased with his defense team’s performance in the first day of the Senate impeachment trial, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
Numerous lawmakers and members of the media criticized the legal team’s performance as well, particularly that of Bruce Castor, who delivered a rambling 45-minute opening speech. Multiple sources close to Trump’s defense team reportedly spoke to both Politico and CNN, saying Trump was “not happy” with how his team had represented him. (RELATED: Trump’s Rambling Impeachment Lawyer Gets Mocked From All Sides)
Multiple people tell me Trump was basically screaming as Castor made a meandering opening argument that struggled to get at the heart of the defense team’s argument.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 9, 2021
“President Trump was not happy with the performance of his legal team in action,” one of the people reportedly told Politico.
Trump’s legal representation underwent a tumultuous few weeks leading up to the impeachment trial. His previous team abruptly quit less than three weeks before the trial due to Trump’s insistence that they argue the election was stolen from him. With that team gone, Castor and attorney David Schoen stepped in with barely two weeks to prepare.
Both Schoen and Castor have also declined to argue that the 2020 election was stolen.
Alan Dershowitz, who represented Trump in his first Senate impeachment trial, was dismayed at the team’s performance.
“I have no idea what he is doing,” Dershowitz said of Castor on Newsmax. “The American people are entitled to an argument… but this, just, after all kinds of very strong presentations on the part of the House managers… it does not appear to me to be effective advocacy.”
‘There is no argument – I have no idea what he is doing,’ @AlanDersh on Trump’s defense lawyer Bruce Castor ‘talking nice’ to U.S. Senators – via Newsmax TV’s ‘American Agenda.’ https://t.co/VlT7z8drtO pic.twitter.com/7P7uVk5X19
— Newsmax (@newsmax) February 9, 2021
Trump’s allies in the Senate were also unimpressed.
“I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that was, that was not one of the finest I’ve seen,” Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn said according to a pool report.