Former President Donald Trump reportedly considered firing one of his impeachment attorneys after the first day of his impeachment trial in the Senate.
The former president was reportedly furious at his legal team for their arguments on day one of the trial. Overall, the president’s legal team was criticized by members of the Senate across the political spectrum for a weak performance compared to that of the Democratic House impeachment managers.
Trump was particularly angry with attorney Bruce Castor and considered taking him off the impeachment team, led by Castor and attorney David Schoen, for the rest of the trial. As The Daily Beast reported:
Castor’s performance disturbed and enraged Trump enough on Tuesday that, while monitoring the trial on TV from afar at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, he start griping about why he hired the lawyer in the first place, two people familiar with the matter said. One of the sources told The Daily Beast Trump said he was considering pulling Castor from his defense, leaving the rest of the televised pro-Trump arguments in the hands of the rest of the new legal team, particularly Schoen.
On Tuesday, Castor acknowledged that the Democratic team “did a good job” and conceded that he in particular was unpersuasive. When asked about specific criticisms from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Castor said he was “sorry [Cassidy] felt that way” and admitted “I’ll have to do better next time.”
Cassidy was the only senator to change his vote on the constitutionality of the ongoing impeachment proceedings on Tuesday from an earlier motion on Jan. 26. The Louisiana senator blamed the Trump team’s performance versus the House managers’ for his change.
Castor and Schoen took over Trump’s impeachment defense after the former president’s legal team collapsed in late January. As The Daily Wire reported on Jan. 31:
Former President Donald Trump announced his new legal team on Sunday that is tasked with defending him during his Senate impeachment trial, which comes after multiple lawyers parted ways with Trump’s team yesterday.
The statement that Trump put out called trial lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr. “highly respected” and said that Schoen had already been working with Trump’s team. The statement suggested that the argument on which Trump’s team will focus is that the impeachment trial is “unconstitutional.”
Schoen said, “It is an honor to represent the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, and the United States Constitution.”
Castor added, “I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President. The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for the ages, and it will triumph over partisanship yet again, and always.”
Trump and his previous legal time reportedly split after the former president directed the attorneys to focus on Trump’s claims that the election was rigged and that he was the legitimate winner. The attorneys rejected Trump’s request and both parties agreed to cut off the association.