Politico: “Days after facing bipartisan derision for their dull and disorganized opening argument, defense attorneys for former President Donald Trump took a page from their clients’ playbook on Friday. They trolled Democrats with their own words, complained about “cancel culture,” and launched unfounded claims about the 2020 election. They played a video featuring objections by Democrats to the congressional certification of 2016 Electoral College votes for Donald Trump. With an ominous musical track playing in the background, they juxtaposed clips of Trump calling for ‘law and order’ with footage of Democrats offering supportive words for nationwide protests that unfolded last summer in the wake of George Floyd’s death – protests that at times turned violent.”

“And, in the coup de grâce, they offered a nine-minute and eleven-second video montage that spliced together dozens of Hollywood stars and lawmakers vowing to ‘fight’ Republicans and Trump. The word fight, later reports revealed, was uttered 238 times. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong,’ Trump attorney David Schoen said. ‘It’s a word people use, but please stop the hypocrisy.’ It was a Trumpian flourish to a high-stakes trial, one that made clear that the ex-president’s team viewed the matter less as a constitutional debate and more as political fist fight. With Trump’s acquittal all but assured, his team of attorneys used only a fraction of the 16 hours allotted to them to attack critics, rev up the MAGA faithful, and ignore prosecutorial questions about Trump’s role – before, during and after – the deadly Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Trump, according to an aide, ‘loved’ it as Michael van der Veen, one of his defense attorneys, decried his second impeachment trial as ‘constitutional cancel culture,’ and even defended Trump’s claims about voter fraud – an issue his defense initially hoped to sidestep.”