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


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.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggests
Speed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefire
Speed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
-
Israel strikes Iran, killing military and nuclear chiefs
Speed Read Israeli officials said the attack was a 'preemptive' strike on Iran's nuclear program
-
Israel deports Thunberg after seizing Gaza aid boat
speed read The Swedish activist was delivering food and medical aid to Palestine, highlighting the growing humanitarian crisis there
-
Colombian senator shot on streets of Bogotá
speed read Miguel Uribe Turbay, who has announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election, was shot at a rally
-
Trump says Putin vowed retaliation for Kyiv strike
speed read The Russian president intends to respond to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's warplanes
-
Dutch government falls over immigration policy
speed read The government collapsed after anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition