Trump Reportedly Big Mad At Bruce Castor’s Impeachment Trial Performance

February 10, 2021, 7:00 am

Former President Trump’s historic second impeachment trial has begun, and day one featured woefully bad performances by his lawyers — ones that were so bad even Trump himself was reportedly livid about the whole thing.

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After all the usual suspects were taken out of the running to defend Trump in the Senate, he wound up with David Schoen, who would have been Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer, and Bruce Castor, who declined to prosecute Bill Cosby when he was a district attorney in Pennsylvania.

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Their job on day one was to argue why the trial should not be held whatsoever. This was always a motion expected to fail, but it actually went so poorly that Trump’s lawyers actually convinced an unexpected additional Republican to vote for the trial to continue.

Castor’s performance was particularly lambasted, as his rambling incoherence throughout the day left everyone stumped as to what he was trying to accomplish.

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Apparently, even Donald Trump was majorly displeased with Castor’s work.

He was reportedly “borderline screaming over what was going on as he was talking to people about this,” according to CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

Multiple people tell me Trump was basically screaming as Castor made a meandering opening argument that struggled to get at the heart of the defense team’s argument.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 9, 2021

Kaitlan Collins: “Trump was not happy with [Bruce Castor’s] performance. He was borderline screaming over what was going on as he was talking to people about this.” pic.twitter.com/TwGXeZ7KDs

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 9, 2021

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Members of Congress seemed pretty baffled about the presentation as well.

Murkowski on Trump attorney Bruce Castor: “I was really stunned at the first attorney who presented for former President Trump. I couldn’t figure out where he was going.” (per Congressional pool reporter)

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 9, 2021

Republican Sen. Susan Collins says she was “perplexed” by Trump’s lawyer Bruce Castor “who did not seem to make any arguments at all, which was an unusual approach to take” to @tedbarrettcnn

— Ali Zaslav (@alizaslav) February 9, 2021

And the internet treated the whole thing as a joke.

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Trump *should* be incredibly unhappy with his lawyers today. They were incoherent, rambling, boring, wrong on the law, and unconvincing to boot. Castor in particular had on a dopey suit and looked sloppy. They were terrible advocates and reflected poorly on him.

Pass it on.

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) February 9, 2021

Bruce Castor’s opening statement for the defense is like watching a student trying to bluff their way through an oral book report on a book they haven’t read.#DefendingTheIndefensible

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 9, 2021

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The term “a Castor and Schoen” should make it into our language as a not-ready-for-prime-time legal duo that damages the client more than it helps.

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) February 9, 2021

Bruce Castor should speak in tongues tomorrow and see if that’s enough to peel away one more Republican

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 10, 2021

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Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it may not matter.

Bruce Castor conducted a brilliant experiment to determine how many Republican senators would turn against Donald Trump based on an almost completely empty defense presentation. The answer is one.

— Will Saletan (@saletan) February 9, 2021

The fact that 44 Republican Senators still voted to stop the trial before it began suggests that their minds are already made up, and they will vote to acquit regardless of the insurrection and regardless of any evidence brought forth at the trial.

Anything different would be a surprise at this point, so in that sense, the only person whose career Castor may hurt by continue to act like a clown is his own.

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*First Published: February 10, 2021, 7:00 am