Trump's lawyers are panicked. [View all]
A number of posters and pundits have called attention to the fact that Donald Trump’s legal team appeared “disorganized” and “random” in today’s Senate trial of the twice-impeached ex-President for incitement to insurrection. Some commentators went further, calling Trump’s defense team terrible, awful, and incompetent. One particularly critical DU poster cut to the chase and described the Trump defense as “a bunch of babbling bull****.”
Undoubtedly, Castor and Shoen could have done better. What I offer here is a theory that explains why they didn’t. They’re panicked.
It takes a lot of time to prepare well for a trial. Castor and Shoen had barely a week to prepare, and they did the best they could. They prepared as solid a case as possible for acquittal on the grounds of due process and the unconstitutionality of the trial, itself.
Then, yesterday happened. The Senate agreed to bifurcate the vote (vote twice instead of just once). The first vote was on constitutionality. The Senate found the trial constitutional 56-44. Tomorrow, house managers will begin to argue the merits of the House’s case, but note that the decision to bifurcate only occurred yesterday. Trump’s defense team has mountains of arguments on unconstitutionality and due process. They have little or nothing to argue on the merits. They didn’t think that they would have to.
They had plenty of things to say today—too many, in fact. That’s why they sounded rushed, flustered, and disorganized. They didn’t have enough time to adequately cover all the material that they had prepared. I know that feeling. I’ve been there.
What’s probably worse is that they haven’t prepared much of a defense on the merits, and they have no time to do so because (at this point) they’re stuck in court all day. They’re seriously worried that when it comes time to argue the merits, they’re woefully unprepared.
As a fellow attorney, I pity them. Castor and Shoen only became aware of the actual structure of the trial the day before it began. That’s rough. Regardless, I understand why they looked mighty panicked today. I have to wonder whether they’re secretly hoping that Trump will fire them tonight.
-Laelth
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