Former US president Donald Trump was angered by the performance of his lawyers during the opening day of his second impeachment trial.
Allies and Republican senators questioned the strategy and some called for yet another shake-up to his legal team.
Mr Trump, who watched proceedings in Washington from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, was furious at what he saw, a source said.
Some senators described the lawyers' performance as unfocused and rambling, as they and Democratic House managers began to lay out their cases before the Senate jury.
While it is unlikely that more than a handful of Republicans will join Democrats in voting to convict Mr Trump, the proceedings were a chance for him to try to repair some of the damage to his legacy after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.
He is charged with inciting the January 6 insurrection and last month became the first president in history to be impeached by the House twice.
But Mr Trump’s team, announced little more than a week ago, appeared unprepared as they tried a good cop, bad cop routine that veered from flattery to legal jargon.
Their performance was a dramatic contrast to the Democrats’ focused, emotional appeals.
Mr Trump was impressed with the Democrats, who opened Tuesday’s session with powerful video that compiled scenes of the deadly attack on Congress.
He complained that his team, especially lead lawyer Bruce Castor, looked weak in comparison, the source said.
That anger was echoed by Mr Trump's allies, who criticised the lawyers publicly and privately, and with repeated profanities.
“There is no argument,” said Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer who represented Mr Trump in his first impeachment trial.
"I have no idea what he [Mr Castor] is doing. I have no idea why he’s saying what he’s saying."
Peter Navarro, a former Trump trade adviser, had already urged the former president to drop his legal team and hire Republican representative Matt Gaetz before the trial began.
“You gotta get rid of those guys," Mr Navarro said. "These people don’t understand. This is a political trial."
Republican senators appeared equally baffled, especially at Mr Castor, who spent much of his time buttering up senators with compliments, praising the case made by Democrats and digressing.
John Cornyn, a Republican senator for Texas, said Mr Castor “just rambled on and on and on, and didn’t really address the constitutional argument".
Mr Cornyn said Mr Trump's lawyer David Schoen, who spoke second, “got around to it” and “did an effective job".
"But I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments, and that was not one of the finest I’ve seen," he said.
Before the criticism mounted, another adviser to Mr Trump described Mr Castor’s presentation as part of a “very clear, deliberative strategy".
The adviser said that after the Democrats’ emotionally charged opening, Mr Castor set about “lowering the temperature” before “dropping the hammer on the unconstitutional nature of this impeachment witch hunt".
The hammer did not appear to hit its nail.
Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator for Louisiana, voted with Democrats on Tuesday to go ahead with the trial.
Mr Cassidy said Mr Trump’s team did a “terrible job”, was disorganised and “did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand".
Susan Collins, a Republican senator for Maine who also voted with the Democrats, said Mr Castor “did not seem to make any arguments at all, which was an unusual approach to take".
Texas senator Ted Cruz, one of Mr Trump’s staunchest allies, said he did not think the lawyers did “the most effective job".
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, another close ally, said he did not know where Mr Castor was going with his arguments.
Mr Trump’s team did not respond to requests for comment on the day’s events or say whether they were planning any change in representation.
Mr Castor said during the trial that the team “changed what we were going to do” at the last minute because the House managers had done such a good job.
After yesterday's performance, would say only that “we had a good day".
Mr Schoen said he had not yet spoken to Mr Trump, but would “have to do better next time".
“I mean, I always hope to improve. I hope I can do that,” he said.
Mr Trump parted ways with his original impeachment team about a week before the Senate trial was set to begin.
That was in part because he wanted them to base their defence on unfounded allegations of election fraud and the lawyers were not willing to do so.
Recipe
Garlicky shrimp in olive oil
Gambas Al Ajillo
Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
180ml extra virgin olive oil; 4 to 5 large cloves of garlic, minced or pureed (or 3 to 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped); 1 or 2 small hot red chillies, dried (or ¼ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes); 400g raw prawns, deveined, heads removed and tails left intact; a generous splash of sweet chilli vinegar; sea salt flakes for seasoning; a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
▶ Heat the oil in a terracotta dish or frying pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, add the garlic and chilli, stirring continuously for about 10 seconds until golden and aromatic.
▶ Add a splash of sweet chilli vinegar and as it vigorously simmers, releasing perfumed aromas, add the prawns and cook, stirring a few times.
▶ Once the prawns turn pink, after 1 or 2 minutes of cooking, remove from the heat and season with sea salt flakes.
▶ Once the prawns are cool enough to eat, scatter with parsley and serve with small forks or toothpicks as the perfect sharing starter. Finish off with crusty bread to soak up all that flavour-infused olive oil.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Background: Chemical Weapons
MATCH INFO
Borussia Dortmund 0
Bayern Munich 1 (Kimmich 43')
Man of the match: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 0 Southampton 3 (Ings 49', Armstrong 54', Redmond 79')
Three ways to get a gratitude glow
By committing to at least one of these daily, you can bring more gratitude into your life, says Ong.
- During your morning skincare routine, name five things you are thankful for about yourself.
- As you finish your skincare routine, look yourself in the eye and speak an affirmation, such as: “I am grateful for every part of me, including my ability to take care of my skin.”
- In the evening, take some deep breaths, notice how your skin feels, and listen for what your skin is grateful for.
more from Janine di Giovanni
Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
Results
2pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: AF Thayer, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer).
2.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: AF Sahwa, Nathan Crosse, Mohamed Ramadan.
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,000m, Winner: AF Thobor, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
3.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: AF Mezmar, Szczepan Mazur, Ernst Oertel.
4pm: Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup presented by Longines (TB) Dh 200,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Galvanize, Nathan Cross, Doug Watson.
4.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 40,000 (D) 1,700m, Winner: Ajaj, Bernardo Pinheiro, Mohamed Daggash.
The biog
Year of birth: 1988
Place of birth: Baghdad
Education: PhD student and co-researcher at Greifswald University, Germany
Hobbies: Ping Pong, swimming, reading
Race card
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammed Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Saeed Ahmed, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Muhammed Jumah, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
