The legal team representing former President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial will be “well prepared” as the trial moves forward, one of Trump’s lawyers said late Tuesday.
Attorney Bruce Castor, “who did the opening today had his law firm there,” lawyer David Schoen said.
“They seem to be very capable people, I’m sure. Today he hadn’t planned on going, and so I’m sure they will be very well prepared in the future, and do a great job in the case,” he added. “There’s a lot to say, and I know they feel very strongly about fighting against what they are seeing.”
Schoen was speaking on Fox News’s “Hannity.” Host Sean Hannity, a strong Trump proponent, told Schoen that some conservatives called him and said, “Whoa, we need someone harder-hitting here.”
Hannity also called the defense “somewhat meandering.”
“I thought I knew where it was going, and I really didn’t know where it was going,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters.
“I don’t think they were very well prepared,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) charged on CNN’s “Outfront.” While they “were adequate,” House managers “made a superior presentation,” he added.
Castor’s opening statement included “no argument,” constitutional attorney Alan Dershowitz, who helped represent Trump in the first impeachment trial last year, said during a virtual appearance on Newsmax.
“Come on. The American people are entitled to an argument, a constitutional argument,” he added.
Other Republicans took aim at the Democrat representatives acting as prosecutors in the trial.
“Today typified what we’re going to see this week, which is, it reminds me of Shakespeare. It’s full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. We’re going to see this week a whole lot of Democrats pounding the table, we’re going to see a lot of moralizing, and a lot of really venting their hatred for Donald Trump,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Fox.
Many Democrat senators, though, said the impeachment managers did a good job.
“Today was so powerful in the team’s presentation of the founder’s worst nightmare: Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow a lawful election and keep himself in power by inciting a mob assault,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a video statement.
“I don’t think I'll ever forget yesterday. It was pretty darn sobering,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said on CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday. “Not just to hear the House managers make the case, but that video montage that made the case for itself.”