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Battered Trump lawyer Bruce Castor claims his 'stupid' performance was on purpose: report
Bob Brigham
February 10, 2021

Battered Trump lawyer Bruce Castor claims his 'stupid' performance was on purpose: report
Impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor. (Screengrab)

Trump impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor is defending his widely panned opening arguments in a new interview with Fox News.



Before Castor even finished speaking, former Trump impeachment lawyer Alan Dershowitz was ripping the argument on Newsmax and Trump was reportedly "borderline screaming" at the television.

Castor, however, disputes the reports.


"My reaction is you need to check those sources because that has not been communicated to me by the president or anybody associated with the president," Castor said. "Including Mark Meadows, who specifically came to the Capitol yesterday to tell me don't read news coverage."



Castor said his performance on Tuesday was an intentional response to House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin.



"That was by design," Castor said. "I don't like reading bad stuff about me in the newspaper any more than anyone else does, or my legal colleagues around the country saying I'm stupid, but the reason I made the change was precisely so that in lowering the temperature in the room, the public coverage would be more about what I said than about what the House Managers said."

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Trump impeachment lawyer Castor defends trial performance, says Trump not upset with him
Sources told Fox News Trump was displeased with Castor’s opening argument
By Brooke Singman | Fox News

Fox News Go

EXCLUSIVE: Trump lawyer Bruce L. Castor Jr. defended his performance Tuesday in the Senate, saying it has "not been communicated" to him that former President Trump was angry over his statements during the first day of the Senate impeachment proceedings.
During an exclusive interview with Fox News, Castor addressed reports that Trump was "furious" and "beyond angry" over his defense team’s showing on Tuesday. Sources told Fox News that the former president had been displeased with Castor’s opening argument.
BRUCE CASTOR: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE ATTORNEY

"My reaction is you need to check those sources because that has not been communicated to me by the president or anybody associated with the president," Castor said. "Including Mark Meadows, who specifically came to the Capitol yesterday to tell me don’t read news coverage."
Castor added that Meadows told him that "everything is going fine" and to "continue doing what you’re doing."
Castor’s 45-minute opening remarks were widely panned on social media after he praised the House impeachment managers for a job "well done."
Video
Castor told Fox News that his statement came at a time when he was "not planning to speak at all."
"Yesterday was a pre-trial motion. It was supposed to be, according to the Senate resolution, a legal discussion on the issue of jurisdiction. We took the Senate resolution literally and were prepared to argue jurisdiction," Castor explained, but acknowledged that "the House Managers deviated substantially from the mandate and made a very strong, and direct emotional appeal."
"I have had 35 years of reading the expressions of people’s faces as jurors, and I could see that it had hit home," Castor said, referring to Lead Manager Jamie Raskin’s opening remarks, recounting his experience during the Capitol riot last month.
THESE ATTORNEYS ARE DEFENDING TRUMP IN THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

Castor told Fox News that he knew what David Schoen, another lawyer on Trump’s defense team, was going to say and said he was "married to what we wrote in that brief."
"He was not going to deviate," Castor explained. "I am faced with a chamber that is emotionally charged and our response was about to be a scholarly treatise on a narrow portion of law."
Castor said he "did not think that was a good idea."
"I thought the likelihood of the senators paying attention to our jurisdiction argument would go up if I could lower the temperature in the chamber before David spoke," Castor explained. "And that is why I changed the strategy, and essentially, gave a portion of what was going to be my opening statement in the trial later in the case."
Castor, though, said that Trump "is paying me to win the case."
"If winning the case has a consequence that I have to take a few torpedos in order to focus attention on us and away from what the House managers are doing, then that is part of the danger in being a trial lawyer, when prevailing is of greater importance that personal grandiosement."
"One of the reasons I made the audible I did yesterday was to dial back the emotion," Castor said. "Because when you distill the House Managers' case down to its smallest essence, their case is what happened on January 6 is so bad that it justifies the abrogation of all constitutional protections."

He added: "There is no set of facts that ever justifies abrogating the freedoms granted to Americans in the United States Constitution."
Meanwhile, Castor said that "the media is paying far more attention to what I had to say, and consequently spent less time on arguments advanced by Raskin and his team."
IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: HOW MANY SENATE VOTES DOES IT TAKE TO CONVICT TRUMP?
"That was by design," Castor said. "I don’t like reading bad stuff about me in the newspaper any more than anyone else does, or my legal colleagues around the country saying I’m stupid, but the reason I made the change was precisely so that in lowering the temperature in the room, the public coverage would be more about what I said than about what the House Managers said."
Video
At one point in his remarks Tuesday, Castor said: "The American people just spoke and they just changed administrations."
Castor added the public was smart enough to "pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one, and they just did."
Castor clarified those remarks.

"What I said was in a light most favorable to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. The people have spoken and the administration changed," Castor said. "The point that I am making is that if we accept as true the position of the Democrats that the election was fair, and that the people chose President Biden over now former President Trump—if we take that as fact—then they now must concede that the American public does know how to change administration if they want to."
"Taking from President Trump the ability to hold office in the future demonstrates to me that the Democrats are afraid that the people of the United States can’t be trusted with the power to change administrations, and should not be given the choice of returning to President Trump if that is what they want," Castor continued.
He added that if the Democrats believe the 2020 was "fairly conducted, then their argument has to be disputed."
"Because in four years, or in 2024, those same voters, in a free and fair election, should be counted on to be able to go again, make the correct decision on who the president should be," Castor explained. "But the Democrats don’t want that."
"What the Democrats want is Mr. Biden in the White House based on the election results of November, and they do not trust the American people to make the correct decision for the country in 2024, so they are trying to remove a political rival," he said.
WHAT IS TRUMP BEING ACCUSED OF IN THE SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL?
Castor explained that "one of the fundamental differences" between their defense of Trump and the argument of the House Managers is that "we trust the American people to make the right choice from all available candidates for president — including former President Trump."

"The House Managers have taken a position that they do not trust the American people to make the right choice and are trying to remove Trump from them as a potential choice," Castor said.
He added: "I believe that if the position taken by the House Majority and advanced by the House Managers is adopted, it is a direct repudiation of the United States Constitution and will go down in history as the first step on the road to the fall of the republic."

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Trump impeachment lawyer Castor defends trial performance, says Trump not upset with him
Sources told Fox News Trump was displeased with Castor’s opening argument
By Brooke Singman | Fox News

Fox News Go

EXCLUSIVE: Trump lawyer Bruce L. Castor Jr. defended his performance Tuesday in the Senate, saying it has "not been communicated" to him that former President Trump was angry over his statements during the first day of the Senate impeachment proceedings.
During an exclusive interview with Fox News, Castor addressed reports that Trump was "furious" and "beyond angry" over his defense team’s showing on Tuesday. Sources told Fox News that the former president had been displeased with Castor’s opening argument.
BRUCE CASTOR: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE ATTORNEY

"My reaction is you need to check those sources because that has not been communicated to me by the president or anybody associated with the president," Castor said. "Including Mark Meadows, who specifically came to the Capitol yesterday to tell me don’t read news coverage."
Castor added that Meadows told him that "everything is going fine" and to "continue doing what you’re doing."
Castor’s 45-minute opening remarks were widely panned on social media after he praised the House impeachment managers for a job "well done."
Video
Castor told Fox News that his statement came at a time when he was "not planning to speak at all."
"Yesterday was a pre-trial motion. It was supposed to be, according to the Senate resolution, a legal discussion on the issue of jurisdiction. We took the Senate resolution literally and were prepared to argue jurisdiction," Castor explained, but acknowledged that "the House Managers deviated substantially from the mandate and made a very strong, and direct emotional appeal."
"I have had 35 years of reading the expressions of people’s faces as jurors, and I could see that it had hit home," Castor said, referring to Lead Manager Jamie Raskin’s opening remarks, recounting his experience during the Capitol riot last month.
THESE ATTORNEYS ARE DEFENDING TRUMP IN THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

Castor told Fox News that he knew what David Schoen, another lawyer on Trump’s defense team, was going to say and said he was "married to what we wrote in that brief."
"He was not going to deviate," Castor explained. "I am faced with a chamber that is emotionally charged and our response was about to be a scholarly treatise on a narrow portion of law."
Castor said he "did not think that was a good idea."
"I thought the likelihood of the senators paying attention to our jurisdiction argument would go up if I could lower the temperature in the chamber before David spoke," Castor explained. "And that is why I changed the strategy, and essentially, gave a portion of what was going to be my opening statement in the trial later in the case."
Castor, though, said that Trump "is paying me to win the case."
"If winning the case has a consequence that I have to take a few torpedos in order to focus attention on us and away from what the House managers are doing, then that is part of the danger in being a trial lawyer, when prevailing is of greater importance that personal grandiosement."
"One of the reasons I made the audible I did yesterday was to dial back the emotion," Castor said. "Because when you distill the House Managers' case down to its smallest essence, their case is what happened on January 6 is so bad that it justifies the abrogation of all constitutional protections."

He added: "There is no set of facts that ever justifies abrogating the freedoms granted to Americans in the United States Constitution."
Meanwhile, Castor said that "the media is paying far more attention to what I had to say, and consequently spent less time on arguments advanced by Raskin and his team."
IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: HOW MANY SENATE VOTES DOES IT TAKE TO CONVICT TRUMP?
"That was by design," Castor said. "I don’t like reading bad stuff about me in the newspaper any more than anyone else does, or my legal colleagues around the country saying I’m stupid, but the reason I made the change was precisely so that in lowering the temperature in the room, the public coverage would be more about what I said than about what the House Managers said."
Video
At one point in his remarks Tuesday, Castor said: "The American people just spoke and they just changed administrations."
Castor added the public was smart enough to "pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one, and they just did."
Castor clarified those remarks.

"What I said was in a light most favorable to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. The people have spoken and the administration changed," Castor said. "The point that I am making is that if we accept as true the position of the Democrats that the election was fair, and that the people chose President Biden over now former President Trump—if we take that as fact—then they now must concede that the American public does know how to change administration if they want to."
"Taking from President Trump the ability to hold office in the future demonstrates to me that the Democrats are afraid that the people of the United States can’t be trusted with the power to change administrations, and should not be given the choice of returning to President Trump if that is what they want," Castor continued.
He added that if the Democrats believe the 2020 was "fairly conducted, then their argument has to be disputed."
"Because in four years, or in 2024, those same voters, in a free and fair election, should be counted on to be able to go again, make the correct decision on who the president should be," Castor explained. "But the Democrats don’t want that."
"What the Democrats want is Mr. Biden in the White House based on the election results of November, and they do not trust the American people to make the correct decision for the country in 2024, so they are trying to remove a political rival," he said.
WHAT IS TRUMP BEING ACCUSED OF IN THE SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL?
Castor explained that "one of the fundamental differences" between their defense of Trump and the argument of the House Managers is that "we trust the American people to make the right choice from all available candidates for president — including former President Trump."

"The House Managers have taken a position that they do not trust the American people to make the right choice and are trying to remove Trump from them as a potential choice," Castor said.
He added: "I believe that if the position taken by the House Majority and advanced by the House Managers is adopted, it is a direct repudiation of the United States Constitution and will go down in history as the first step on the road to the fall of the republic."

Bruce-castor-Jr-THUMB.jpg
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Prosecutors in Georgia open criminal investigation into Trump's attempt to influence election results
By Jason Morris and Devan Cole, CNN

Updated 2:07 PM ET, Wed February 10, 2021




Washington (CNN)A prosecutor in Fulton County, Georgia, has opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump for his "attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia general election."
In a letter sent Wednesday to numerous Georgia state election officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested that they preserve documents related to Trump's phone call last month in which he pushed Raffensperger to "find" votes to reverse his election loss.

The investigation comes as Raffensperger's office has launched its own probe into Trump's attempts to overturn the election, an inquiry that includes a review of both that call and another phone call the then-President made to a Georgia election official.
Willis said her "investigation includes, but is not limited to, potential violations of Georgia election law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office, and any involvement in violence of threats related to the election's administration."



"This matter is of high priority, and I am confident that as fellow law enforcement officers sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States and Georgia, our acquisition of information and evidence of potential crimes via interviews, documents, videos and electronic records will be cooperative," the letter reads.
Trump himself is not named in the letter, but Willis' office confirmed to CNN that the probe concerns his phone call with Raffensperger. The letter also says Fulton County authorities currently "have no reason to believe that any Georgia official is a target" in the probe.



The investigation was earlier reported by The New York Times.

The criminal probe adds to a growing list of significant legal pressures facing Trump, including a Senate impeachment trial in which House Democrats are pushing to convict him for inciting the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, and the investigation launched by Raffensperger's office into Trump's election conduct.

In that probe, Raffensperger, the state's top election official, is also investigating Trump's one-hour phone call, in which Trump lambasted his fellow Republican for refusing to falsely say that he won the election in Georgia and repeatedly touted baseless claims of election fraud.
Another call occurred on December 23 between Trump and a Georgia election investigator in the secretary of state's office who was leading an investigation into allegations of ballot fraud in Cobb County. In that call, Trump asked the investigator to "find the fraud," saying the official would be a "national hero," according to a source with direct knowledge of the call.

There were 18 attempted calls from the White House to the Georgia secretary of state's office between the election and the January 2 phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, a Georgia state official has confirmed to CNN.

There have been no credible allegations of any issues with voting that would have impacted the election, as affirmed by dozens of judges, governors, election officials, the Electoral College, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Supreme Court.
Michael J. Moore, the former US attorney for the Middle District of Georgia between 2010 and 2015 under President Barack Obama, told CNN the multiple calls "sort of start to tell the story that this was not an official trying to talk to another official about problems that he or she might see in an election."

"It's more about how do I get to the place that that I can win the race," he said, adding that the now-infamous call "sounds like any other call that you might have with an organized crime ring or a drug conspiracy ring or something.

"And that is that you've got almost code talking about -- this is what I need you to do, if you could just help me out here," Moore told CNN.

www.cnn.com

Prosecutors in Georgia open criminal investigation into Trump's attempt to influence election results

A prosecutor in Fulton County, Georgia, has opened a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump for his "attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia general election."
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

www.nytimes.com

Georgia Prosecutors Open Criminal Inquiry Into Trump’s Efforts to Subvert Election (Published 2021)

State officials are being instructed to preserve documents related to “attempts to influence” the Georgia election, just weeks after former President Donald J. Trump asked an elections official to “find” votes.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
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Trump unhappy with his impeachment attorney's performance, sources say
By Kaitlan Collins, Jim Acosta, Paul LeBlanc and Pamela Brown, CNN

Updated 6:33 AM ET, Wed February 10, 2021





(CNN)Former President Donald Trump was unhappy with his impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor's opening argument on the Senate floor Tuesday, two people familiar with his reaction told CNN.
Castor, who is representing Trump alongside attorney David Schoen, delivered a meandering argument during the first day of the Senate impeachment trial, including praise for the House impeachment managers for a presentation that he said was "well done."
Trump was almost screaming as Castor struggled to get at the heart of his defense team's argument, which is supposed to be over the constitutionality of holding a trial for a president no longer in office. Given that the legal team was assembled a little over a week ago, it went as expected, one of the sources told CNN.
Still, Trump's allies were flabbergasted when the attorneys switched speaking slots at the last minute.


Senate GOP rips Trump's attorney for lackluster arguments on trial's first day
Castor's discursive presentation featured lengthy praise of the Senate, including his home state Pennsylvania senators -- Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey -- while arguing that the Senate should not be holding the trial. He warned that a second impeachment trial in 13 months would "open the floodgates" to future impeachments, even making the unfounded rhetorical suggestion that former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder could be impeached.
The Senate ultimately voted 56-44 that the impeachment trial is constitutional.
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An adviser to Trump's team offered a candid assessment of the messy opening day, asking pointedly, "What the hell is going on?"
The adviser said the former President could be in serious jeopardy if he finds himself charged in criminal court, given his inability to attract a high-powered legal team for the impeachment trial.
"Trump is f--ked if anyone ever charges him. No one wants to work with him," the adviser said.
Schoen was supposed to present first, not Castor, two people familiar with the plan told CNN. But Castor told the Senate that Trump's legal team "changed what we were going to do on account that we thought that the House managers' presentation was well done."
After Castor yielded to Schoen, the tone of the defense team changed starkly. Schoen charged that Democrats were using impeachment as a political "blood sport" to try to keep Trump from running for office again, accusing them of trying to disenfranchise pro-Trump voters.
Though the former President was displeased by his defense team's early performance, his staff remained confident that he was headed for acquittal and it would not change the outcome of the trial. Two separate sources close to Trump say he's lying low through the end of the trial but talking with aides about how to reemerge and help Republicans around the midterm elections.
A separate senior adviser to Trump insisted that Castor was attempting to lower the emotional temperature in the Senate before Schoen began his presentation.
"This is about lowering the temperature following the Democrats' emotionally charged opening, before dropping the hammer on the unconstitutional nature of this impeachment witch hunt," the adviser said.
But even some GOP senators signaled they were unimpressed with the presentation.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas -- who nonetheless voted that the trial was unconstitutional -- told reporters bluntly, "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." He quickly added, "But I've seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that was -- it was not one of the finest I've seen."
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was the only senator to vote differently than in a procedural vote last month on the constitutionality of the trial, told reporters that the "House managers were focused, they were organized" and "made a compelling argument," while in contrast, "President Trump's team were disorganized."
"They did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand, and when they talked about it they kind of glided over, almost as if they were embarrassed of their arguments," Cassidy said.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska similarly said: "Today was supposed to be an opportunity to, to be briefed on the constitutionality of whether or not you can move forward with an impeachment of a former president."
"I thought that -- that the House presented a pretty good, pretty good legal analysis. In fairness, I was really stunned at the first attorney who presented for former President Trump. I couldn't figure out where he was going, spent 45 minutes going somewhere, but I don't think he helped with us better understanding where he was coming from on the constitutionality of this," Murkowski said.
A source who advised the Trump campaign said plainly, "Getting criticized by both sides. Yikes."
Castor and Schoen, each of whom has a history of being involved in controversial legal matters, were tapped to lead Trump's legal team one day after CNN first reported that five members of his defense had left abruptly. One point of friction with his previous team was that Trump wanted the attorneys to focus on his election fraud claims rather than the constitutionality of convicting a former president.
A source close to the first Trump impeachment team said the former President's current lawyer shouldn't be compared with the attorneys who represented him at his first trial.
"It is hard to compare to our team," the source said of Trump's first impeachment team, noting it featured the likes of Bill Clinton impeachment veteran Judge Ken Starr, Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. "Different level of experience."
Despite the criticism, Castor simply told reporters after the day's session: "I thought we had a good day, thank you."
This story has been updated with additional reporting.

www.cnn.com

Trump unhappy with his impeachment attorney's performance, sources say

Former President Donald Trump was unhappy with his impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor's opening argument on the Senate floor Tuesday, two people familiar with his reaction told CNN.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
 

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