Trump ‘loved it’ when his defense team called impeachment trial ‘constitutional cancel culture’

Former president’s legal team spoke for less than three hours on Friday

Donald Trump reportedly “loved it” when one of his legal team called his impeachment trial “constitutional cancel culture”.

The former president’s lawyers spoke for less than three hours in his defense on Friday.

The trial, which began on 9 February, was triggered by the Capitol riots on 6 January following a “Save America” rally outside of the White House where Mr Trump told his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” and added: “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

Five people died and several more were injured as a mob of pro-Trump supporters breached the US Capitol. A week before leaving office, Mr Trump was impeached by the House.

Read more: Follow live updates from Trump’s impeachment trial

Despite his legal team only using a fraction of the time allowed for their defense, Mr Trump was very pleased with the performance, an aide told Politico.

During their arguments on Friday, Mr Trump’s attorneys, Bruce Castor Jr, Michael van der Veen and David Schoen, repeatedly made false claims about November’s presidential election and accused Democrats of being hypocrites.

At one point, Mr van der Veen condemned the impeachment trial, describing it as “constitutional cancel culture”.

Speaking to Politico on Friday the former aide said that Mr Trump “loved it” when Mr van der Veen made the remark, and claimed that he was happy when the lawyers played a widely mocked compilation tape of Democrat senators saying the word “fight”.

Mr Trump’s reaction to his legal team’s performance was in contrast with his feelings earlier in the week when they made their opening remarks.

CNN reported on Friday that the former president was so unhappy with the performance of his lawyers on Tuesday that he met with his team on Thursday evening to consult with them about how to improve the arguments.

Others were also pleased with Mr Trump’s defense, as his former campaign adviser Roger Stone told Politico: “I thought David Schoen was exceptionally strong,” adding: “Finally, the president has someone who will fight for him and make the best possible case and get to a vote as soon as possible.”

Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson claimed that Mr Trump’s “lawyers blew the House managers’ case out of the water” and added that they should “rest the case right now.”

The Senate is expected to vote on Mr Trump’s conviction on Saturday, as senators decided to forgo calling witnesses despite voting in favour of hearing from them earlier in the day.

Mr Trump is not expected to be convicted, as some 17 Republicans would need to join all 48 Democrats and two Independents to meet the two-thirds’ threshold. Only six GOP senators have signalled that they will vote for conviction.

The Independent has contacted Mr Trump for comment.