Montco's Bruce Castor Under Fire For Trump Impeachment Opening

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor was in the national spotlight on Tuesday, delivering a rambling defense of Donald Trump before the U.S. Senate to kick off the historic impeachment proceedings. The Senate ultimately ruled 56-44 that the trial was constitutional and could proceed.

Castor, appointed to co-lead Trump's legal defense team just over a week ago, was not received well in some conservative circles. Several media sources, including CNN and the New York Times, report that multiple members of Trump's inner circle, including Trump himself, were upset by his efforts.

Castor's 50 minute presentation, which argued that the impeachment trial was unconstitutional, made it a point to acknowledge that Trump had lost the election. Castor also expressed concerns that if the impeachment went forward, it would set a dangerous precedent that would embolden Republicans to impeach Democrats with impunity in the future.

But the body of the argument was interrupted by a series of distracted and self-referential comments that meandered from the case and left some Trump supporters baffled. And it reportedly lacked the Rudy Giuliani-esque fire that the former president prefers to see in his legal defenders.

Castor began by praising the Democratic presentation in support of conviction:

"I'll be quite frank with you," he said. "We changed what we were going to do on account of we thought the House managers' presentation was well done."

He made multiple other allusions to his team's strategy, couching it in strange contexts:

"I was going to say it will, instead of floodgates, I was going to say originally it will release the whirlwind, which is a biblical reference. But, I subsequently learned since I got here that that particular phrase has already been taken, so I figured I better change it to floodgates."

You can watch Castor's full remarks below:

Trump, the first president ever to be impeached twice, was not present on the first day of the trial. He stands charged with incitement of insurrection related to the Jan. 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol building. The riot let to the deaths of five people, including a U.S. Capitol police officer.

The House of Representatives voted in January to impeach Trump on the incitement of insurrection charge, with 10 Republicans joining all House Democrats in favor of impeachment.

After the arguments before the Senate, it was Castor's co-leading attorney, David Schoen, who appeared in television news interviews. Schoen told Fox News anchor Sean Hannity that Castor had not originally planned to present first Tuesday, and that'd be better prepared in the future. Hannity commented on Castor: "“I thought it started a little meandering, sort of like a lot of free associating."

The district attorney from 2000 to 2008, Castor's tenure in Montgomery County became the focus of national attention during Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial just a few years ago.

When Andrea Constand alleged in 2005 that Cosby sexually assaulted her, Castor did not believe there was sufficient evidence. He told Cosby he would not prosecute him, and Cosby later attempted to frame this agreement as a plea deal which granted him immunity from prosecution. The more damning evidence in that case, Castor said, came to light long after Castor was out of office.