Donald Trump Was ‘Borderline Screaming’ At His TV Over Poor Performance Of Impeachment Lawyer Bruce Castor

Donald Trump was furious and “borderline screaming” at his television while watching impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor deliver opening statements in the former president’s trial in the U.S. Senate.

Castor’s performance was widely panned, with even some allies of Trump calling it disjointed and ineffective. Castor even admitted in the opening statements that the House managers seeking to convict did a strong job in establishing their case.

“I’ll be quite frank with you. We changed what we were going to do on account that we thought that the House managers’ presentation was well done,” he said, via Business Insider.

Kaitlan Collins reported on CNN — as seen in the embed below — that Trump was furious with the performance, saying he was close to yelling while watching television from his home at his company’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump is standing trial for a single impeachment count passed last month that accused him of inciting insurrection with his actions leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump had struggled in putting a defense together, with his original legal team quitting with just a little more than a week before it was set to start. As The Inquisitr reported, Trump had called on them to claim that the election had been stolen from him, the same unfounded claim that critics say fueled the anger of his supporters who attacked the Capitol.

Business Insider noted that the former president’s team was confused over a late change to his defense, with attorney David Schoen originally being slated to speak first and Castor second. They instead changed at the last minute, and Castor drew the ire of Trump when he praised the other side for their strong arguments.

Kaitlan Collins: "Trump was not happy with [Bruce Castor's] performance. He was borderline screaming over what was going on as he was talking to people about this." pic.twitter.com/TwGXeZ7KDs

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 9, 2021

The poor start even caused one of the president’s allies to break from the GOP on a key early vote. As CNN reported, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy joined Democrats and five of his colleagues in voting that the proceedings could move forward. Other Republicans claimed that the trial itself was not constitutional, as Trump was no longer in office.

Cassidy complimented the opposing side for a “very good opening” and said that they made convincing arguments as to why it would be constitutional.

“House managers were focused, they were organized,” he said. “President Trump’s team were disorganized. They did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand and when they talked about it, they kind of glided over, almost as if they were embarrassed of their arguments.”