Arguments made by House Democratic impeachment managers and attorneys for former President Donald Trump affected just one Republican’s thinking at Trump’s Senate trial Tuesday.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said he was unimpressed with Trump’s lawyers’ presentation at the start of the trial.
Cassidy was one of six Republicans to vote to proceed with the trial, joining with Democrats to defeat the argument that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.
The other Republicans were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. All the other Republican senators had voted in January to affirm the trial is constitutional.
“I always said, I’m gonna be an impartial juror. Anyone who listened to those arguments would recognize that the House managers were focused, relied upon and trusted upon the opinion of legal scholars,” Cassidy said. “Anyone who listened to President Trump’s legal team saw they were unfocused, they attempted to avoid the issue. And they talked about everything but the issue at hand.”
House impeachment managers were led by Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin.
During his remarks, Raskin played an edited video of clips showing rioters storming the capitol on Jan. 6, along with pieces of Trump’s speech and tweets that day. Colorado Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse followed and gave his presentation to the senators.
Trump lawyer Bruce Castor, who presented the former president’s case as to why the impeachment trial is unconstitutional, was immediately criticized for giving remarks that meandered too often. He was also criticized for being too complimentary to arguments made by the House managers.
Republican lawmakers appeared to rely largely on Trump attorney David Schoen, who spoke after Castor. GOP members say they preferred his focus on the constitutionality issue over Castor’s style.
Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told reporters she found Castor to be “confusing,” while Schoen “did a very nice job bringing it all home.” Ernst, however, said Raskin’s appeal was more “emotional” and “partisan.”
“I thought I knew where he was going, and I really didn’t know where it was going,” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters. “I don’t know, I mean, nobody’s mind was changed one way or the other … maybe Cassidy his mind was.”
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul told the Washington Examiner of the House impeachment managers, “I thought they were polished, and I thought they were wrong with their arguments, but they were good presenters.”
Republicans panned the video played by Raskin of the siege on the Capitol, saying they already saw most of the video images previously.
“I’ve seen it all before. I was here and lived through it. So that did not have an additional impact on me,” Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun told the Washington Examiner.
“I didn’t see an image that I haven’t already seen. It was not a good day, and I think everybody’s appropriately condemned the violence,” Paul said. “We believe that people who commit violence ought to be punished.”
