Former President Donald Trump’s legal team got him acquitted of the charges he faced in the Senate, but days after, one of them is providing insight into the team’s dysfunction.
David Schoen, one of Trump’s lead attorneys for the case, criticized his former co-counselor in an interview with Jewish Insider published on Monday, arguing that former acting Pennsylvania Attorney General Bruce Castor assumed outsize influence even though he was supposed to play a supporting role.
“[Trump’s team] asked me if I would work with [Castor], if I would take the lead and so on, but then, [Castor] would help me, and he has a firm that can help and all that,” he said. “I’m not sure that message was communicated to him clearly enough because he never seemed to quite understand that I was supposed to be the lead in the case.”
Castor’s blueprint called for Schoen to focus on the Senate’s jurisdiction in the matter, which would leave him largely sidelined after the first day of the trial. Stepping into the lead role himself, Castor “jumped in” to present the defense’s case on the first day of trial. The presentation was disparaged by Schoen, who said Castor’s argument was “like a filibuster” and “not a good presentation.”
Trump, who reportedly asked Schoen to join the team first in a lead role, was also unimpressed by Castor’s performance and called on Schoen to play a more active role in his defense.
“The president had this other idea that he wanted me to speak more. He said, ‘I’ve made you the lead person. Why is it that you’re only doing that one part?’” Schoen said.
Schoen cited his personality as the cause of his reluctance to voice his concerns about Castor’s power.
“I wasn’t assertive. I didn’t tell them — I sort of did, I thought, but anyway, they weren’t hearing it that I was supposed to be the lead person — but it’s just not my personality,” he said. “They have a whole firm there. I’m just not going to say to another person, ‘I’m a better lawyer.’”
In an email to the Washington Examiner, however, Schoen disputed Jewish Insider’s telling of his remarks, saying that he believes Castor is “a fine fellow.”
“What I actually said was that after he spoke on the first day and it didn’t go well, I thought the press coverage was brutal and unfairly attacking, to the point that I wondered how he could get up in the morning, and so, I publicly and privately stood up to support him,” he said. “And even if it didn’t go that way, I admired his courage in jumping in if that was what he thought was necessary.”
In his comments to the Washington Examiner, Schoen affirmed the notion that he didn’t assert himself “sufficiently,” adding, “When he came in, he set up an agenda and because I am not more assertive, I took the role I was given and prepared for that, notwithstanding the client’s intention for my role. I should have cleared that up earlier, and I take responsibility for that.”
Castor defended his approach to the trial, noting his legal strategy ultimately resulted in the former president’s acquittal.
“We are not interested in making disparaging remarks concerning any member of the trial team. The case is over. The former president and the Constitution prevailed. Everything we did was for a reason, whether that reason was immediately apparent or not,” he told the Washington Examiner in an email. “I continue to hold all members of the team that defended President Trump in the highest regard.”
The Pennsylvania attorney scoffed at criticism of his performance during the first day of the trial, saying, “[If] you put 100 people in the same room, you’re going to get 100 different opinions.”
The reported dysfunction of Trump’s legal team long predated the contention between Schoen and Castor. After the former president first selected South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers to represent him in late January, Bowers and his planned co-counselor, Deborah Barbier, abruptly quit on Jan. 30, one week before the trial.
Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives on Jan. 13 for “incitement of insurrection” after he encouraged his supporters who attended a rally in Washington on Jan. 6 to march to the Capitol to express their displeasure with Congress’s intent to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
The lawyers argued that it was unconstitutional for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial for a former elected official who was no longer in office. They also invoked the former president’s First Amendment rights. Trump was acquitted of the charge by a vote of 57-43 on Saturday.
Trump was previously impeached on two Ukraine-related charges in December 2019 and was acquitted in the GOP-majority Senate in 2020.
