WASHINGTON (AP) – Former President Donald Trump smoked that his lawyers’ performance on the opening day of his second impeachment trial was a disaster, as Republican allies and senators questioned the strategy and some called for yet another change in his team. legal.
Trump, who was watching the Washington case 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 also criticized what they described as a deconcentrated and fickle performance when the Trump team and Democratic Chamber managers began to expose their cases to the Senate jury.
While it is unlikely that more than a handful of Republicans will join Democrats in condemning the ex-president at the end of the trial, the process was a chance for Trump to try to repair some of the damage to his legacy stemming from the invasion of Capitol by a crowd of your supporters. Trump was accused of inciting the January 6 uprising, and last month he became the first president in history to be charged by the House twice.
But the Trump team – which was announced just over a week ago – seemed unprepared as they tried a good cop and bad cop routine that went from flattery to legalese, and stood in dramatic contrast to the Democrats’ emotional appeals.
Trump – always the showman – was impressed by the Democrats, who opened Tuesday’s session with a powerful video that compiled scenes of the deadly attack on Congress. And he complained that his team – especially lawyer Bruce Castor – did poorly on television and seemed weak in comparison, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The anger was echoed by Trump’s allies, who criticized lawyers publicly and privately and repeatedly with profanity.
“There is no argument. I have no idea what he’s doing. I have no idea why he is saying what he is saying, ”said Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial, while he opined on Castor during a Newsmax appearance while the session was underway.
Peter Navarro, a former Trump trade advisor, had already urged the former president to abandon his legal team and hire Republican deputy Matt Gaetz before the trial started, warning: “You need to get rid of these guys. These people don’t understand. This is a political judgment. “
Republican members of the Senate seemed equally perplexed, especially with Castor, who spent much of his time flattering senators with praise, praising the case presented by the Democrats and going on a tangent.
Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said Castor “just rambled indefinitely and didn’t really address the constitutional argument. He said that Trump’s lawyer, David Schoen, who spoke in second place, “turned it around” and “did an effective job. But I saw a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and it wasn’t one of the best I’ve seen. “
Before criticism escalated, another Trump adviser described Castor’s presentation as part of a “very clear and deliberative strategy”. The adviser said that after the Democrats’ emotionally charged opening, Castor began to “lower the temperature” before “hammering the unconstitutional nature of this impeachment witch hunt”.
The hammer did not seem to hit the nail.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted with Democrats on Tuesday to move forward with the trial, said the Trump team did a “terrible job” and was “disorganized”, “random” and “did everything I could, except to talk about the issue at hand. ”
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who also voted with Democrats, said she was “baffled” by Castor, “who didn’t seem to be making any arguments, which was an unusual approach.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of Trump’s staunchest allies, said he did not think the lawyers did “the most effective job”, while South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, another close ally of Trump, said he did not 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 changes to the legal team.
Asked about a response to criticism from the Republican Party on leaving the trial, Castor – who 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 – – I would just say that “we had a good day.” Schoen told reporters that he had not yet spoken to the president, but that “he would have to do better next time”.
“I mean, I always hope to improve. I hope I can do that, ”he said.
Trump broke up 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 based on unfounded allegations of electoral fraud, and lawyers were unwilling to do so.
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick of Washington contributed to this report.