Bruce Castor, former President Trump’s lead impeachment lawyer, said he’ll highlight Democratic lawmakers’ rhetoric during next week’s trial.
Speaking on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show Friday, Castor said he will use video of Democrats’ comments to combat evidence against Trump that is anticipated to include video of his own remarks before a throng of supporters on the Ellipse prior to the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“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 responded.
“Many of them in Washington are using really the most inflammatory rhetoric possible to use. And certainly there would be no suggestion that they did anything to incite any of the actions,” he later added.
Castor indicated that he would highlight remarks Democrats made surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, though critics have pointed to protests that became violent.
“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,” he said.
Castor will work with attorney David Schoen to defend Trump at next week’s trial.
Their argument is anticipated to center around what they say is the unconstitutionality of trying a former president once he’s left office and infringements on Trump’s First Amendment rights.
The House voted to impeach Trump last month over remarks he made to his supporters prior to the Jan. 6 riot, which led to the deaths of several people and failed to halt Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results.
Trump spoke to a mass of supporters to repeat his unfounded claims that the presidential election was fraudulently “stolen” from him, telling the crowd that “you have to show strength” and that “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Castor defended the remarks, saying, “But here, when you have the president of the United States give a speech and says that you should peacefully make your thinking known to the people in Congress, he’s all of a sudden a villain.”
Via The Hill