Former President Donald Trump was upset with his impeachment defense team during the first day of his historic second impeachment trial, according to multiple reports.
In particular, the 45th president, who is accused of inciting an insurrection for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, was displeased with lawyer Bruce Castor, whose meandering opening argument bamboozled Republican senators and others, including Alan Dershowitz. Trump caught some of the trial at his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida, and cursed and screamed to allies over the phone during his defense team’s presentation, a source told the Wall Street Journal.
“President Trump was not happy with the performance of his legal team in action,” a person familiar with Trump’s thinking told Politico. Trump “was an eight” on a scale of 1 to 10 that would show how angry he is, another source told the New York Times.
Trump was impeached by the House last month on one article of inciting an insurrection in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Ten Republican lawmakers joined with the entire Democratic caucus in voting for the impeachment.
Trump’s legal team argues there is an effort to undermine his First Amendment rights and, it says, the trial of a former president is unconstitutional. However, six Republican senators joined with Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them in voting to carry out Trump’s impeachment trial after the first day of the proceeding on Tuesday. A two-thirds vote is needed to convict.
