Former President Trump was “furious” and “beyond angry” at his defense team’s performance on the first day of his second impeachment trial, despite his almost certain acquittal, two sources told Fox News on Tuesday. .
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The sources, who spent some time with Trump, said he was particularly irritated by the effort so far made by his lawyer Bruce Castor. Trump believes Castor gave a disconnected opening argument, they said. Castor’s initial 45-minute comments were widely criticized on social media after he praised the House’s impeachment managers for a “well done” job.
“The American people just spoke and changed their administration,” said Castor at one point. He said the public is smart enough to “choose a new government if they don’t like the old one, and they just did.”
Castor’s comment prompted the Associated Press to publish the headline: “Trump never gave in that he lost, but his impeachment lawyer did.”
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Representative Jamie Raskin, the chief impeachment manager, was impressive and is “a serious lawyer”. He said the Trump team did not perform the most “effectively”.
Trump watched the proceedings from his quarters at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. The AP, citing an unidentified source, said Trump was impressed by the presentation of the Democrats’ opening video. The Trump team did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.
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Castor defended his performance in an interview after learning that Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., Stepped up to the Democrats, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“You put 100 people in the same room, you get 100 different opinions. We only lost one … so I believe we had a good day, ”he said. Castor clarified that his “well done” statement was not an acknowledgment that the Democratic case was more effective.
Cassidy said that anyone who heard the Trump team “saw that they were out of focus, they tried to avoid the problem. And they talked about everything except the problem in question.”
The Journal noted that Trump’s legal team had very little time to prepare for the trial.
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The 50-50 Senate initiated another trial that many Republicans say will have no other purpose than to fuel the division of the country. They say Democrats want nothing more than to score political points with the trial and have one last chance against Trump.
Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Forced a vote a few days ago to overturn the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, drawing 44 other Republicans to his argument. Paul’s move suggested the near impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate where Democrats hold 50 seats, but a two-thirds vote – or 67 senators – would be needed to convict Trump.
David Schoen, another Trump lawyer, told Hannity on Tuesday that he thought the trial was too painful for the country to endure. He said that a well-edited video may have “great entertainment value”, but “it will not promote any good cause in the country”.
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“It’s common sense,” he said. “Nobody thinks of using the impeachment process for anything other than removing a civilian employee from office.”
Fox News’ Kristin Fisher and the Associated Press contributed to this report