Trump dissatisfied with his impeachment attorney’s performance, sources say

Trump dissatisfied with his impeachment attorney’s performance, sources say

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Castor, who is representing Trump alongside attorney David Schoen, made a sinuous argument during the first day of the Senate impeachment trial, including praise for the House’s impeachment managers for a presentation he said was “done well.”

Trump was almost screaming as Castor struggled to get to the heart of his defense team’s argument, which should be about the constitutionality of holding a trial for a president who is no longer in office. As the legal team was set up just over a week ago, everything went as expected, one of the sources told CNN.

Still, Trump’s allies gaped when lawyers switched spaces to speak at the last minute.

Castor’s speech presented long-standing praise to the Senate, including senators from his home state of Pennsylvania – Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey – while arguing that the Senate should not hold the trial. He warned that a second 13-month impeachment trial would “open the floodgates” for future impeachments, even making the groundless rhetorical suggestion that former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder could be impeached.

The Senate ended up voting 56-44 that the impeachment judgment is constitutional.

A consultant on the Trump team offered a candid assessment of the confused opening day, asking pointedly, “What the hell is going on?”

The aide said the former president could face serious risks if he is charged in a criminal court, given his inability to attract a high-ranking legal team to the impeachment trial.

“Trump is upset if someone accuses him. Nobody wants to work with him, ”said the consultant.

Schoen was due to present first, not Castor, two people familiar with the plan told CNN. But Castor told the Senate that Trump’s legal team “changed what we were going to do because we think the House managers’ presentation was done well.”

After Castor gave in to Schoen, the defense team’s tone changed dramatically. Schoen accused Democrats of using impeachment as a political “blood sport” to try to prevent Trump from running for office again, accusing them of trying to deprive pro-Trump voters.

Although the former president did not like the initial performance of his defense team, his team remained confident that he was on the way to acquittal and that would not change the outcome of the trial. Two separate sources close to Trump say he is hiding until the end of the trial, but talking to advisers about how to reappear and help Republicans in the midterm elections.

Another senior Trump adviser insisted that Castor was trying to lower the emotional temperature in the Senate before Schoen started his presentation.

“It is about lowering the temperature after the Democrats’ emotionally charged opening, before hammering out on the unconstitutional nature of this impeachment witch hunt,” said the adviser.

But even some Republican senators signaled that they were not impressed by the presentation.

Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas – who nonetheless voted that the trial was unconstitutional – told reporters bluntly: “I thought the president’s lawyer – the first lawyer – just rambled and didn’t really talk about the constitutional argument.”

“Finally, the second lawyer solved the problem and, I thought, did an effective job.” He quickly added: “But I saw a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that was – it was not one of the best I’ve seen.”

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was the only senator to vote differently than last month’s procedural vote on the constitutionality of the trial, told reporters that “House administrators were focused, they were organized” and “they presented a convincing argument, “while in contrast,” President Trump’s team was disorganized. “

“They did everything they could, except talk about the issue at hand, and when they talked about it they kind of slipped, almost as if they were ashamed of their arguments,” said Cassidy.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the same way: “Today was supposed to be an opportunity to be informed about the constitutionality of power or not to move forward with the impeachment of a former president.”

“I thought – that the House presented a very good, very good legal analysis. To be fair, I was really shocked by the first lawyer who presented himself to former President Trump. I couldn’t find out where he was going, I spent 45 minutes going somewhere, but I don’t think it helped us to better understand where it was coming from on the constitutionality of it, “said Murkowski.

A source who advised the Trump campaign clearly said, “Being criticized by both sides. Damn it.”

Castor and Schoen, each with a history of involvement in controversial legal issues, were asked to lead Trump’s legal team the day after CNN first reported that five members of his defense had abruptly left. A sticking point with his previous team was that Trump wanted lawyers to focus on his allegations of electoral fraud, rather than the constitutionality of convicting a former president.
A source close to Trump’s first impeachment team said the former president’s current lawyer should not be compared to the lawyers who represented him at his first trial.

“It is difficult to compare with our team,” said the source on Trump’s first impeachment team, noting that it featured names such as Judge Ken Starr, veteran of Bill Clinton’s impeachment, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz and former prosecutor- Florida general Pam Bondi. “Different level of experience.”

Despite the criticism, Castor simply told reporters after the day’s session: “I thought we had a good day, thanks.”

This story has been updated with additional reports.

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