Sen. Coons: Trump's impeachment defense is 'the Four Seasons Landscaping of the legal profession'

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
Catherine Garcia
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The messiness of former President Donald Trump's impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor reminds Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) of an earlier fiasco involving a different Trump attorney.

During a Tuesday evening interview with MSNBC host Joy Reid, Coons said he didn't think Castor or his colleague David Schoen prepared at all for their opening arguments. "I've got to tell you, listening to those two, this was the Four Seasons Landscaping of the legal profession," Coons said. "This was some of the weakest argumentation I've ever heard."

This was a call back to the Nov. 7 press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia. During this Rudy Giuliani production, the Trump team discussed its legal challenges to Pennsylvania's ballot-counting process. It was a widely panned event, with most people believing Giuliani messed up and meant to hold the press conference at the Four Seasons luxury hotel, not at a landscaping company down the road from a crematorium and a sex shop.

Jokes aside, Coons said Castor went "on and on without any clear focus or purpose," adding that the "argumentation [was] not well founded, not well thought out, and not very compelling." In contrast, he found the House managers gave a "focused, concrete, compelling argument, and they had the citations from over 150 constitutional law professors and scholars, from conservative to progressive, to back them up."

After hearing from both sides, Coons said he "questions how anyone could have voted today that this was an unconstitutional proceeding." He also made it clear he believes that Trump must be impeached because "if we fail to hold him accountable this time," it will "move forward this idea that a president is unconstrained by the limits of the Constitution."

More stories from theweek.com
100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murder
Biden almost certainly has full access to Trump's secretive calls with Putin, other world leaders
One of Trump's impeachment lawyers filed a lawsuit against him in 2020

Latest Stories

  • Trump supporter arrested after threatening Mitch McConnell’s grandkids on Parler

    Mr Houck accused of posting numerous threatening messages on Parler in lead up to and after Capitol riot on 6 January

  • Lawyer for man charged in Capitol riot says he worked for the FBI, had top-secret security clearance

    An attorney for Thomas Caldwell, a Virginia resident accused of participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, said on Monday that his client is a Navy veteran who has had a top-secret security clearance since 1979, worked as an FBI section chief from 2009 to 2010, and ran a consulting firm that did classified work for the U.S. government. Caldwell's lawyer, Thomas Plofchan, wrote about his work history in a motion filed on Monday, which stated that because Caldwell has "been vetted and found numerous times as a person worthy of the trust and confidence of the United States government," he should be released from jail as he waits for his trial to start. Authorities have said Caldwell, 66, is a leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, and helped plan the attack on the Capitol. On Jan. 19, Caldwell was arrested and charged with conspiracy. He denies being involved with the Oath Keepers, and Plofchan said Caldwell is a "100 percent disabled veteran," and because of his "physical limitation," could not have forced his way into a building. The charging documents show that during the attack, Caldwell received messages about lawmakers being "in the tunnels" under the Capitol. After the riot, he also allegedly shared video of the incident on Facebook, saying it was time to "storm the capitol in Ohio." More stories from theweek.com100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murderSen. Coons: Trump's impeachment defense is 'the Four Seasons Landscaping of the legal profession'Biden almost certainly has full access to Trump's secretive calls with Putin, other world leaders

  • Singaporean Professor Lectures for 2 Hours, Dies Inside After Realizing He was Muted the Whole Time

    Dong Wang is an associate professor from the Department of Mathematics at the National University of Singapore (NUS). YouTube users who claim to be in the class reported that they had done "all sorts of things" to get his attention, but he simply ignored them.

  • Husband of slain Alabama online model sentenced to prison for 16 years

    A former campus police officer convicted of manslaughter in the death of his wife, an adult model who posted racy photos online, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Monday by a judge who said the man still hadn't taken responsibility for the death.

  • KKK member sentenced for driving into crowd of protesters

    An acknowledged member of the Ku Klux Klan was sentenced Tuesday to three years and eight months in prison on charges he drove his pickup truck through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters near Virginia's capital city. Harry Rogers, 37, of Hanover County, was convicted of three counts of assault and battery, one count of destruction of property and one count of failure to stop at the scene of an accident in connection with the attack last June in Henrico County near Richmond, news outlets reported.

  • Impeachment expert says Trump's lawyers distorted his work 'quite badly'

    A U.S. law professor who studies impeachment says former President Donald Trump's lawyers misrepresented his research in a brief laying out arguments they will make at his U.S. Senate impeachment trial that starts on Tuesday. Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt, a leading impeachment scholar, told Reuters in an email on Monday that his research was "definitely not" accurately described in the 78-page document. "They didn't have to be disingenuous and misleading like this," Kalt later said on Twitter, adding that "in several places, they misrepresent what I wrote quite badly."

  • Brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima reveals new name

    The old Aunt Jemima brand and logo was based on a racist "mammy" stereotype.

  • Army War College Commandant Suspended Pending Investigation

    Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Maranian has been suspended until the completion of an investigation.

  • Chinese firm 'linked to country’s intelligence agency' worked with BBC on flagship shows

    A Chinese firm with alleged links to the country’s intelligence agency has worked with the BBC on flagship shows, including co-producing Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II. Tencent, a £375 billion tech and media giant, owns the controversial Chinese messaging app WeChat, which was banned in the US on national security grounds under one of Donald Trump’s final executive orders. WeChat has been described as a “key component of the Chinese government's infrastructure of control” after it was claimed that Tencent censors politically sensitive content on foreign accounts, an allegation it has previously denied. It has also been claimed that Tencent received money from the Ministry of State Security, China’s main intelligence agency, when it was founded in 1998, an allegation it has also denied. This week it was revealed that Oxford University accepted £700,000 from Tencent to rename one of its prestigious fellowships at New College. The Wykeham chair of physics, which was established in 1900, will now be known as the Tencent-Wykeham chair in honour of the Chinese computing giant. The move was described as “very unwise” and “grotesque” by MPs given the allegations of the tech firm’s connection to China’s security apparatus. Experts today expressed further concern at Tencent’s relationship with another leading British institution after it emerged that the BBC has signed a string of deals with the Chinese company since 2016 to co-produce a litany of the broadcaster’s flagship shows, including Sir David’s Blue Planet II.

  • Trump still hasn't conceded his election loss. But his impeachment lawyer Bruce Castor did, several times.

    Former President Donald Trump was, by all accounts, furious at his impeachment trial defense team, especially lead lawyer Bruce Castor, panned across the board for his odd, rambling opening statement. "Cocooned at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump watched as his defense attorneys responded to an emotional presentation by House impeachment managers with a series of dry, technical, and at times meandering arguments about due process and the constitutionality of the proceedings," Politico reports. "As they droned on, he grew increasingly frustrated with the sharp contrast between their muted response and the prosecution's opening salvo." But Trump, watching the trial on Newsmax, wasn't just dismayed at Castor's low-energy performance and the bad reviews from allies and senator-jurors, Politico reports. Castor declined to use "graphics or a video — tools his TV-obsessed client had hoped to deploy." And the former president was upset Castor "wore an ill-fitting suit and at one point praised the case presented by the Democratic House impeachment managers," The Washington Post adds, even though Trump himself was reportedly also impressed with the impeachment managers and their video presentation. And Castor notably "did what Trump himself has not: conceded Joe Biden won the presidential election," The Associated Press notes. He called Trump a "former president," said he "was removed by the voters," and argued that Americans are "smart enough to pick a new administration if they don't like the old one, and they just did." Trump continues to insist falsely that he actually won the election, and this "big lie" — that the election was "stolen" from him — undergirds his entire impeachment trial. Castor was using Trump's status as former president to make his case, rejected by the Senate, that it's unconstitutional to try a president after he leaves office. In fact, "Trump initially pushed his impeachment lawyers to make the baseless case that the election was stolen," the Post reports, "an approach they ultimately rejected while still arguing that the First Amendment protects their client's right to share misinformation and false claims." More stories from theweek.com100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murderSen. Coons: Trump's impeachment defense is 'the Four Seasons Landscaping of the legal profession'Biden almost certainly has full access to Trump's secretive calls with Putin, other world leaders

  • Skier rescued in Alaska backcountry after bear attack

    The attack happened after a group of three was hiking up a mountain and unknowingly happened on the bear's den, troopers said.

  • 'No, no.': Mexican president rejects mask-wearing after COVID-19 recovery

    Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday said he would not wear a face mask after his recovery from COVID-19, in spite of widespread support from top officials and the public for the measure. In his first news conference since testing positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 24, Lopez Obrador brushed aside repeated questions from reporters about whether he would wear a mask to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. Unlike many of his top officials, Lopez Obrador has shunned face masks throughout the pandemic.

  • Another winter storm brings more snowfall to Northeast

    Another winter storm is bringing additional snowfall to the Northeastern United States on Tuesday with the region expected to pick up several more inches of accumulation on top of a major snowstorm that hit the region Sunday. The National Weather service said Tuesday's snow was expected to come down at its steadiest in the Boston region in the mid- to late afternoon. Logan International Airport advised travelers to check with their airline on the status of their flight due to the wintery weather and to allow for extra time to get to and from the airport.

  • Woman Gets 10 Years in Prison for Kil‌l‌ing Nail Salon Manager After Skipping on Bill in Las Vegas

    A woman who killed a Vietnamese nail salon manager in Las Vegas in 2018 has been sentenced to a prison term of 10 to 25 years. The verdict: On Friday, Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones sentenced Krystal Whipple to prison for the death of 51-year-old Nhu "Annie" Ngoc Nguyen, the Associated Press reports. With the plea, she effectively avoided trials of felony murder, burglary, robbery and stolen vehicle charges, which she initially faced.

  • Trump reportedly avoided calling Biden a 'predator' in ads because it would 'open up his own can of worms'

    Former President Donald Trump apparently had his limits when it came to attacking his political rivals. Throughout the 2020 campaign season, Trump had the final say over which campaign ads made it onto the air and which were tossed out. He made those decisions at regular White House viewing sessions, where his top White House aides and campaign officials would gather to laugh at and workshop ads, including some too "out there" even for the former president, Axios reports. A few times a month, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale would bring his laptop to the White House and sit "so close" to Trump that it sometimes "bothered" him, a source tells Axios. Parscale would then play through a reel of campaign ads, including many inspired by "young, pro-Trump fans who sent their ideas" to him, Axios continues. One targeted CNN's Don Lemon and his coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests, while another showed President Biden coughing to allege he was unwell, a source said. Trump would often "burst out laughing" at some of the wilder spots, but then conclude they were too "brutal" or "weren't worth the backlash" he'd get, the source told Axios. One subject Trump particularly avoided was Biden's inappropriate touching of women, Axios reports. At one point, Trump's campaign drew up an ad featuring clips of women who'd accused Biden of inappropriate contact, and then finished with a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris declaring "I know a predator when I see one." But as one source close to the campaign said, "He never wanted to run the predator or women's-style ads against Biden, because he was afraid he was going to open up his own can of worms." Read more about Trump's campaign ad critiques at Axios. More stories from theweek.com100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murderSen. Coons: Trump's impeachment defense is 'the Four Seasons Landscaping of the legal profession'Biden almost certainly has full access to Trump's secretive calls with Putin, other world leaders

  • Four years into voyage and metres from land, tanker crew still stuck aboard

    Nearly four years into their odyssey at sea, the five-member crew of oil tanker MT Iba is tantalisingly close to shore, yet still unable to set foot on dry land. What started out as a regular seafaring job turned into what the men call a nightmare, when the tanker's owner, Alco Shipping, fell into financial trouble and stopped paying their salaries 32 months ago. Life aboard the ship has been arduous, said Indian engineer Vinay Kumar.

  • Covid may become just 'sniffles', says scientist, as Tories urge no more lockdowns pledge

    A leading Covid scientist has floated the idea that people may simply get the "sniffles" when they catch the virus in the future. It came as Tory MPs called for ministers to make a promise of no more lockdowns when they reopen the country. Prof Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the "jury is out" about whether new Covid vaccines will be needed to combat mutant strains but expressed hope those already developed can stop severe cases. "If people have just got the sniffles then I think our job is done," Prof Pollard told MPs on Tuesday as he looked ahead to the coming years during an event hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus. With scientists increasingly talking about an annual Covid jab and warning that the virus will not disappear entirely, MPs are considering how to balance the long-term needs of protecting people and rebuilding the economy. Conservative backbenchers eager to see restrictions loosened as soon as is realistically possible have told The Telegraph they want Government ministers to make assurances that nationwide lockdowns will not be repeated. The idea is that to kickstart the economic recovery – getting businesses to reopen and triggering a spending boom – company bosses and workers have to be reassured that the lifting of the rules will not be reversed weeks later.

  • Minority officers were barred from guarding Derek Chauvin in jail, lawsuit alleges

    The lawsuit, filed in state district court, also claims Chauvin received special treatment from a white lieutenant.

  • Jared and Ivanka reportedly warn Trump 'he can still screw this up' ahead of likely impeachment acquittal

    Former President Donald Trump looks poised for a second impeachment acquittal — but Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are reportedly warning him not to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." With Trump's second Senate impeachment trial set to start in just a few hours, Politico reported on Tuesday that his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner have warned the former president "that while he has the votes for acquittal, he can still screw this up." "'Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory' is the phrase Kushner has been heard using most frequently to describe the worry," Politico writes. Trump's acquittal has been seen as likely after 45 Senate Republicans backed an effort to dismiss the impeachment trial last month, suggesting there aren't enough votes for a conviction. In this historic second trial, Trump is facing charges of inciting an insurrection at the Capitol building that left five people dead. His lawyers are expected to argue that the trial isn't constitutional because he's no longer in office. Trump, Politico also reports, has evidently taken Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's advice to heart, with an aide telling the outlet, "Right now Trump is thinking, 'I've got 45 votes, all I have to do is go golfing and not do anything.'" But he's also "already imagining his comeback," according to the report — and drawing comparisons to his reality show The Apprentice. "He's compared it to that time in between seasons of The Apprentice, building anticipation and wonderment for what's to come," an adviser told Politico. While it's not exactly clear what Trump imagines such a comeback to look like, a separate Politico report on Tuesday said that aides expect him to "gradually" re-emerge once the trial is over, at which point he'll likely be "turning his attention toward seeking revenge against Republicans who, he believes, crossed him after he left office." More stories from theweek.com100-year-old accused Nazi camp guard charged with 3,518 counts of accessory to murderSen. Coons: Trump's impeachment defense is 'the Four Seasons Landscaping of the legal profession'Biden almost certainly has full access to Trump's secretive calls with Putin, other world leaders

  • Yale Grad Student and U.S. Army Veteran Gunned Down in the Street Near University

    An Asian American graduate student from Yale University was killed in a shooting in New Haven, Connecticut over the weekend. The incident, which is under investigation as a homicide, occurred near the intersection of Nash and Lawrence Streets at around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 6. BREAKING: Fatal shooting Nash & Lawrence Streets #NewHaven .@WTNH pic.twitter.com/k7qMkF6gtk — CTLaSalle Blanks (@CTLaSalleBlanks) February 7, 2021 Kevin Jiang, 26, was a graduate student at the Yale School of the Environment (YSE).