Former President Donald Trump was reportedly furious at his impeachment trial advocacy team, especially attorney Bruce Castor, criticized across the board for his strange opening statement.
“Cocooned at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump watched as his defense lawyers responded to an emotional presentation by the House’s impeachment managers with a series of dry, technical and sometimes sinuous arguments about due process and constitutionality. of procedures “, Political reports. “As they spoke monotonously, he became increasingly frustrated by the sharp contrast between the silent response and the prosecution’s opening salvo.”
But Trump, watching the Newsmax trial, was not only discouraged by Castor’s low-energy performance and negative criticism from allies and senators, Political reports. Castor refused to use “graphics or video – tools that his TV-obsessed client hoped to deploy”. And the ex-president was upset with Castor “he wore an ill-fitting suit and at one point praised the case presented by the impeachment managers at the Democratic House.” The Washington Post he adds, although Trump himself was also impressed by the impeachment managers and their video presentation.
And Castor notably “did what Trump himself did not: he admitted that Joe Biden won the presidential election”, The Associated Press grades. He called Trump “ex-president”, said he “was ousted by voters” and argued that Americans are “smart enough to choose a new government if they don’t like the old one, and just did.”
Trump continues to falsely insist that he really won the election, and this “big lie” – that the election was “stolen” from him – underpins his entire impeachment trial. Castor was using Trump’s status as a former president to defend his case, rejected by the Senate, that it is unconstitutional to try a president after he leaves office. In fact, “Trump initially pressured his impeachment lawyers to make the groundless case that the election was stolen,” Post reports, “an approach they rejected while arguing that the First Amendment protects their customers’ right to share incorrect information and false claims.”
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