[ad_1]
EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s attorney, Bruce L. Castor Jr., presented an overview of his defense strategy for former President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, saying he would argue that “the whole process is unconstitutional, a bad public policy and sets a bad precedent for the nation. “
Castor, in an exclusive interview with Fox News on Wednesday, described the defense strategy of Trump’s legal team.
ATOUT CASTOR’S IMPAIRMENT LAWYER DEFENDS TRIAL PERFORMANCE, SAYS TRUMP IS NOT TRAINED WITH HIM
“We will argue that the whole procedure is unconstitutional, bad public policy and sets a bad precedent for the nation,” Castor said. “We will argue that everyone in the United States has the right to due process, even if it is the President of the United States. And the President of the United States at the impeachment of the House did not benefit from any legal procedure. “
“Due process requires an investigation – there has not been one – and we will stress that,” Castor said. “Can you imagine if the police were allowed to arrest someone because we think they did and then investigate? Of course not.”
He added: “But the House wants to create a separate category of people to whom the Bill of Rights applies – there’s everyone, then there’s Donald Trump.”
Castor also said the team planned to discuss the First Amendment and said the defense “will spend a lot of time on what the president said and the context in which he said it.”
BRUCE CASTOR: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRUMP DEFENSE LAWYER
Before a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, then-President Trump staged a rally, telling supporters he “would never concede,” and repeated claims no that the election was “stolen” from him and that he won in a landslide. “
During his remarks, Trump pressured Pence, saying he should decertify the presidential election results and send them back “to the States,” and said if he does that Trump will be president for another four. years.
Trump’s remarks preceded a joint session of Congress to certify the presidential election results.
When asked if the defense would focus on the former president’s tweets or posts on Facebook, which social media companies deemed in violation of their policies, and suspended him permanently due to the risk of prosecution of violence, Castor said their argument “includes everything I think. is important to show the context.”
Trump saw his social media accounts suspended after posting a video during the riot, which resulted in several deaths. Trump told his supporters to “go home” but maintained that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him.
Trump later tweeted: “These are the things and events that occur when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped of the great patriots who have been treated badly and unfairly for so long. Come home with love. and peace. ”
In this still from a video, Bruce Castor, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, speaks during Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 (Senate TV via AP)
Meanwhile, Castor also told Fox News that Trump’s defense will point to calls for unity by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I will end the discussion with the calls for unity from the newly installed president and the newly installed vice president and various others calling for unity, and explain how what’s happening in the Senate is the furthest thing. possible to unite the country. ”said Castor.
“The country will never come together until this partisan grudge is eased by about a thousand notches,” he said.
“As an American, I am sad to see where the country has fallen and the political discourse is turning into truly hate speech,” he said. “The country was founded on a robust political debate, and a robust political debate means that you listen to what your opponent says and contradict, but you don’t hate him, and that is what happened and j ‘I am very disappointed. “
TERMINATION TRIAL: HOW MANY SENATE VOICES DOES IT TAKE TO SUMMON TRUMP?
Castor says he does not view House Directors as “the enemy” or “opponents”, but rather those who have taken an oath to do what they believe “is best for the country.”
“When I look across the aisle, I was literally right next to Mr. Raskin. I don’t see him as an enemy, I don’t even see him as an adversary in the classic sense,” he said. declared Castor. “I see him as an opponent who tries to do what he thinks is best for the country, while I try to do what I think is best for the country and the 45th President of the United States.”
Castor told Fox News that in the current political climate, he’s “supposed to hate Mr. Raskin and he’s supposed to hate me.”
CAN THE SENATE STOP TRUMP FROM RUNNING FOR THE PRESIDENT AGAIN?
“Well, I don’t feel that and I have no reason to think he feels it either,” Castor said.
“I actually believe that US senators are patriots and try to do what’s best for the country, regardless of partisan or political views,” Castor explained. “And I really think – I’ve held elected and appointed positions for three decades or more – when you get your hands on the Bible and swear you’ll uphold the tenets of the Constitution of the United States, or in my case , that of Pennsylvania. Constitution too, which changes a person, because such promises are made before God. “
He added: “And I don’t want to be the guy standing in front of Saint-Pierre explaining why I didn’t take this seriously, and I don’t believe a US senator wants to be in that position either.”
Castor said his argument did not try to convince either side.
“I’m trying to convince 100 people to be in favor of Trump’s legal position whether they like him or not,” Castor said.
WHAT IS TRUMP ACCUSED OF IN THE SENATE IMPACT TRIAL?
Regarding the House Directors’ abilities to present and defend their argument that Trump instigated an insurgency on Jan.6, Castor said he did not know them “well enough to have an opinion on them. ability to be a place where we might be. able to enjoy. “
“I would be amazed if the Speaker of the House appointed members of the team who did not know what they were doing,” he said. “I just think House directors have a very difficult job because I think they don’t have a very good record.”
Castor said they “have a lot of emotional appeal that they can lay bare about what happened on January 6, but they don’t have a sufficient legal basis to back up the article from incitement to insurrection “.
“Their argument is that what happened on January 6 is so serious that it justifies the repeal of all constitutional protections,” he said. “There is no body of facts that ever justifies repealing the freedoms granted to Americans in the Constitution of the United States.”
Meanwhile, Castor said he expects the impeachment process to end at some point over the weekend, while saying, however, that he feels House Managers “are ready to make decisions. unpredictable strategies “.
As for witnesses, Castor said he “doesn’t see reasonable people who think they need to hear witnesses when in fact the jurors in the case are witnesses themselves.”
WHO IS SENATE PRO TEMPORE PATRICK LEAHY AND WHY IS HE PRESIDENT OF THE TRUMP TIMELESS TRIAL?
But if the Senate approves the witnesses, Castor said he could “say with certainty that we will call witnesses and that I will cross-examine the witnesses of the House Directors.”
Castor, however, did not disclose who Trump’s legal team would call as a witness if that was an option.
When asked why he chose to represent Trump in his second impeachment trial, Castor gave a brief response.
“One of my heroes in American history is another single-term president: John Adams,” Castor said. “And when British soldiers fired on crowds in Boston in 1770 and were arrested for murdering Boston settlers, they needed a lawyer to defend them. John Adams defended them.
He added: “Donald Trump needs a lawyer to defend him and I will defend him”.
[ad_2]
Source link