Trump was 'almost screaming' when he saw how badly his impeachment lawyer did: report

CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump was "almost screaming" over his lawyer Bruce Castor's poor performance during his Senate impeachment trial in the afternoon.

Castor's rambling opening remarks, which were meant to address the constitutionality of the trial but instead meandered over a wide range of subjects with little coherence, drew immediate criticism from observers across the board. Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer for Trump during his first impeachment, said he had no idea what Castor was trying to argue.

"This is a limited-time defense, and he wasn't really getting to the heart of the argument," Collins said of Castor. "And I'm now being told by two people familiar with President Trump's reaction — former President Trump, I should say — that he was deeply unhappy with that performance. He was 'borderline screaming,' according to these two people who are aware of how the president responded to Bruce Castor as he was going forward, making that argument."

She noted that Castor only recently joined the former president's defense team after Trump fired most of his attorneys a little over a week ago. His first team had been regarded as well-respected and serious lawyers, but he was reportedly unhappy with the strategy they were prepared to pursue.

Collins also reported that Castor was not supposed to speak first on Tuesday, but the order was changed at the last moment, confusing Trump allies.

After the House managers and Trump's lawyers presented their argument on Tuesday, the Senate voted 56-44 to proceed with the trial. The Senate had previously held a vote on a similar motion questioning the trial's constitutionality, which had failed 55 to 45, with five Republicans joining the 50 Democrats to push forward with the trial. Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy was the only person to change his vote on Thursday, deciding to vote in favor of the trial's constitutionality, citing the president's lawyers' poor performance compared to the impeachment managers' arguments as the decisive factor in changing his mind.