Lead attorney for Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team Bruce Castor said, “I thought we had a good day” upon being asked how the first day of the Senate trial went, even though legal critics and Senators largely panned their presentation.
According to CNN, Castor said he doesn’t expect any changes to the presentation the Trump team planned for the trial. “No, I set up the outline a week ago and it will not change,” Castor said without noting that they were just hired for the case a week ago after Trump original legal team quit suddenly.
Senators in general were less than impressed with the presentation set forth by the two lawyers representing Trump. One, Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy, found their arguments so weak he voted with Democrats and five other Republicans to continue the trial.
“And then I thought the President’s lawyer, the first lawyer, just rambled on and on and on and didn’t really address the constitutional argument. Finally the second lawyer got around to it, and I thought, did an effective job,” Texas Republican Senator John Cronyn said.
“This was the Four Seasons Landscaping from the legal profession,” Delaware Democrat Chris Coons said during an MSNBC interview.
Many fact-checkers noted that Trump’s lawyers misrepresented the words of the Constitution. Castor repeatedly stated, for example, that the only punishment for impeachment outlined in the Constitution was removal from office; in fact, the Constitution has two, removal from office and barring from holding future office.