David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor Jr., who last week took over as Trump’s attorneys in the trial, released a lengthy defense brief today in which they previewed what their strategy will be once proceedings begin.
Their main argument, of course, will be that the trial itself is unconstitutional since Trump is no longer president and is now a private citizen. They will also argue that Trump had a First Amendment right to claim the presidential election was stolen. His lawyers will also try to make the case that in the House’s rush to impeach Trump they did not afford him due process.
But where the fireworks will really start will be when Schoen and Castor reference past quotes from Democrats who used the exact same or similar words Trump did during his January 6th speech:
In order to bolster Trump’s free speech defense, the brief notes that Trump’s metaphorical use of the term “fight like hell” is well-established. In fact, the brief cites examples of Democrats’ rhetoric that would also constitute “incitement” by the standard of the impeachment article.
“It is truly incredible that House Democratic leadership is feigning horror at the President’s choices of words considering some of their own members recent public comments,” the brief notes.
Team Trump cites House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) statement, “I just don’t even know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country. Maybe there will be.”
[…]
The document also cites Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who said, “there needs to be unrest in the streets” as the Black Lives Matter protests devolved into violent and deadly riots.
[…]
Finally, Team Trump cited Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who infamously encouraged leftist demonstrators to harass Trump administration staff in public places.
“For those who would say that those quotes must be understood in their greater context, i.e., that they were clearly meant to be political speech- we say exactly. The truth is that both … Mr. Trump’s speech and these comments are acceptable political free speech; it is the double standard at play here that is entirely unacceptable, and Mr. Trump [asks] that the Senate reject it in no uncertain terms,” Team Trump argues.
Castor appeared on Laura Ingraham’s program on Friday and said they were also prepared to use videos of Democrats making such statements, especially since Democrats have made clear they will use footage of Trump during the trial:
“Will you then respond with Maxine Waters, a number of other Democrat officials not speaking out about the Antifa and other extremist rallies over the last summer?” Ingraham asked.
“I think you can count on that,” Castor said. “If my eyes look a little red to the viewers, it’s because I’ve been looking at a lot of video.”
Earlier in the segment with Ingraham, Castor alleged “there’s a lot of tape of cities burning and courthouses being attacked and federal agents being assaulted by rioters in the streets, cheered on by Democrats throughout the country,” seemingly referring to ongoing unrest in Portland, Ore.
Watch the segment below:
While the theatrics from Democrats will no doubt take center stage with the Usual Suspects in the media on standby to tell us what an “airtight case” they have, it’s good to see that Trump’s team will come to the trial prepared to play hardball. This trial shouldn’t even be happening, but since it is, at least we know Castor and Schoen will be able to give as good as they get and — in the process — inform the American people as to the duplicity of the Democrats’ antics where so-called “journalists” have failed.