T. Belman. My sentiments exactly. Couldn’t agree more.
By JONATHAN LEMIRE and JILL COLVIN, AP
In this image from video, Bruce Castor, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, speaks during the second impeachment trial of Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. (Senate Television via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump fumed that his attorneys’ performance on the opening day of his second impeachment trial was a disaster, as allies and Republican senators questioned the strategy and some called for yet another shakeup to his legal team.
Trump, who was watching the proceedings in Washington from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, was furious at what he saw, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Senators, too, criticized what they described as an unfocused and rambling performance as Trump’s team and Democratic House managers began to lay out their cases in front of the Senate jury.
While it remains unlikely that more than a handful of Republicans will join Democrats in convicting the former president at the end of the trial, the proceedings were a chance for Trump to try to repair some of the damage to his legacy incurred over the storming of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Trump has been charged with inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, and last month he became the first president in history to be impeached by the House twice.
But Trump’s team — which was announced little more than a week ago — appeared unprepared as they attempted a good cop, bad cop routine that veered from flattery to legalese, and stood in dramatic contrast to Democrats’ focused emotional appeals.
Trump — ever the showman — was impressed with the Democrats, who opened Tuesday’s session with powerful video that compiled scenes of the deadly attack on Congress. And he complained that his team — especially lead lawyer Bruce Castor — came off badly on television and looked weak in comparison, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The anger was echoed by Trump allies, who blasted the lawyers both publicly and privately and with repeated profanities.
“There is no argument. I have no idea what he’s doing. I have no idea why he’s saying what he’s saying,” said Alan Dershowitz, an attorney who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial, as he weighed in on Castor during an appearance on Newsmax as the session was underway.
Peter Navarro, a former Trump trade adviser, had already been urging the former president to ditch his legal team and hire Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz before the trial began, warning: “You gotta get rid of those guys. These people don’t understand. This is a political trial.”
Republican members of the Senate appeared equally baffled, especially at Castor, who spent much of his time buttering up senators with compliments, praising the case made by Democrats and going on tangents.
GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Castor “just rambled on and on and on and didn’t really address the constitutional argument. He said Trump attorney David Schoen, who spoke second, “got around to it” and “did an effective job. But I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that was not one of the finest I’ve seen.”
Before the criticism mounted, another Trump adviser described Castor’s presentation as part of a “very clear, deliberative strategy.” The adviser said that after the Democrats’ emotionally charged opening, Castor had set about “lowering the temperature” before “dropping the hammer on the unconstitutional nature of this impeachment witch hunt.”
The hammer did not appear to hit its nail.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted with Democrats on Tuesday to move forward with the trial, said Trump’s team did a “terrible job” and was “disorganized,” “random” and “did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand.”
GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who also voted with Democrats, said she was “perplexed” by Castor, “who did not seem to make any arguments at all, which was an unusual approach to take.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of Trump’s staunchest allies, said he didn’t think the lawyers had done “the most effective job,” while South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, another close ally to Trump, said he didn’t know where Castor was going with his arguments.
Trump’s team did not respond to requests for comment on the day’s events or questions about whether they are planning any shakeups to the legal team.
Asked for a response to the GOP criticism as he was leaving the trial, Castor — who had said during the trial that the team had “changed what we were going to do” at the last minute because the House managers had done a good job — would say only that “we had a good day.” Schoen told reporters that he hadn’t spoken yet to the president, but would “have to do better next time.”
“I mean, I always hope to improve. I hope I can do that,” he said.
Trump parted ways with his original impeachment team just over a week before the Senate trial was set to begin, in part because Trump wanted them to use a defense that relied on unfounded allegations of election fraud, and the lawyers were not willing to do so.
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@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Hi Adam,
Interesting. I heard that Trump lost half his fortune( billion dolllars) while he was president. This helps explains a lot.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Great information but I think you unfairly accuse Trump. Remember he donated his entire salary of $400,000 per year to charitable causes. He should not have to pay for this himself.
I listened to his Defense Team and thought that under the circumstances they did as best as they could. Remember “There Are None So Deaf As Those Who Do Not Want To Hear”! The far from “Fair Minded” Democrats “Kangaroo” Court had already found him Guilty without even looking at any real “Evidence” and were just a “Lynch Mob” waiting to Hang Him.
The “Turncoat” Republicans who disgracefully sided with them, were just hoping to save their own miserable hides, when emboldened by there “Stalin” type Trial they come looking for other easier Prey. Which they will!
Part of the problem is that his previous lawyers all withdrew, and his new lawyers did not have much time to prepare their case. Also, none of the countries leading constitutional lawyers, not even Giuliani or Dershowitz, were willing to join his impeachment team.
One of reasons for this appears to be that Trump was either unwilling or unable to pay them as much as his original team of lawyers and otther qualified lawyers demanded. He was not willing to pay them out of his own funds. Instead, he wanted them to accept payment from his political committee. He has always refused to contribute his own money to this committee, or any of the political campaign committees that collected donations for him. Apparently, his remaining campaign committee did not have enough funds to pay the leading constitutional and/or defense lawyers what they demanded.
So Trump had to accept the help of two lawyers who were willing to defend him pro bono. With no expertise in constitutional law or other relevant legal specialties, and with less than two weeks to prepare a case, it was inevitable that their performance would be flawed and inadequate. But they deserve credit for doing the best they can.
Why Trump is so stingy on spending his own money on politcs-related expenses has always puzzled people. One possible reason is that he was never as rich as people think, and they he suffered huge financial losses while President. And he may need to keep a lot of money in reserve in case the IRS finally completes his audit and makes him pay a lot of back taxes and fines.
It’s also possibility that Trump believes that the Dems won’t be able get enough Republican senators to vote for conviction in any case. So why spend a lot of money on high-powered lawyers? There are predictions that the trial will be over in four days, and the Senate will then vote without hearing witnesses. In that case, if they can’t get a two thirds vote for conviction, Trump will be able to move on with his next political campaign, whatever that may be, and/or raise money with a speaking tour to pay his debts.
Another badly missed opportunity to turn the dialogue back towards the fraud where it belongs or at least expose the riot hoax. This was very disappointing from a man who has spent a good part of his life as the ultimate showman who was always able to capture the audience’s attention and reinvent the art of story telling. Worse than disappointing – much worse.
Trump should take control of this nightmare, actually I heard he was very involved in it. There is, however no evidence that this is the case. Quite to the contrary.