Politico | Trump impeachment lawyer David Schoen says colleague Bruce Castor has been ‘unfairly maligned’ in trial
- Castor received widespread criticism for a winding performance on Tuesday in arguing the Senate trial was unconstitutional
- Trump’s legal team will wrap up its case on Friday, meaning the team will use fewer than two days to defend him
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Ben Leonard on politico.com on February 11, 2021.
Former US president Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyer David Schoen said on Thursday that his fellow impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor has been “unfairly maligned” over his performance in the Senate trial.
In an interview on Fox News on Thursday, Schoen defended Castor’s work on former president Donald Trump’s legal defence team after Castor received widespread criticism for a winding performance on Tuesday in arguing the Senate trial was unconstitutional. Schoen previously told Fox News that Castor had not planned on beginning his arguments on Tuesday.
“Listen, Mr Castor got up the first day, he jumped right into it to respond to something that had been said. And I think he is been very unfairly maligned, frankly. He's a lawyer with a long 35 years of experience or so,” Schoen said. “Let's just see how this thing plays out.”
Castor's speech on Tuesday was meandering at times, touching on things such as ancient Greek democracy and undercutting Trump’s false claims that he won the election, saying “smart” voters took him out of office. Trump himself was not happy with the team’s performance.
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Trump's former impeachment lawyer Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax on Tuesday that he had “no idea what [Castor] is doing” after the right-wing network cut away from his remarks.