Trump impeachment attorney David Schoen said Thursday that his fellow impeachment attorney Bruce Castor has been “unfairly maligned” over his performance in the Senate trial thus far.
In an interview on Fox News Thursday afternoon, Schoen defended Castor’s work on former president Donald Trump’s legal defense team after Castor received widespread criticism for a winding performance Tuesday in arguing the Senate trial was unconstitutional. Schoen previously told Fox News that Castor hadn’t planned on beginning his arguments 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’s 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 Tuesday was meandering at times, touching on things like 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.
Trump’s former impeachment attorney Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax Tuesday that he had “no idea what [Castor] is doing” after the right-wing network cut away from his remarks.
“The American people are entitled to an argument … but this, just, after all kinds of very strong presentations on the part of the House managers … it does not appear to me to be effective advocacy,” Dershowitz said.
Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a longtime Trump ally, called Castor’s work “unthinkable” after Castor said the team changed its strategy because they thought House impeachment managers had done a good job.
“That’s a prosecutor’s dream come true, for a defense lawyer to stand up during opening and say, ‘Wow, wasn’t that something? Boy, that was so powerful, we changed strategy,'” Christie said.
Trump’s legal team will wrap up its case Friday, Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller wrote in a tweet Thursday, meaning the team will use less than two days to defend him. Schoen told Fox News on Thursday that Trump’s team will not change its legal strategy on Friday.
“There’s no reason for us to be out there a long time,” Schoen said. “It should be as short as possible given the complete lack of evidence and the harm that this is causing to the American people.”