Steve Castor, who you may remember from the House Intelligence Committee phase of the impeachment inquiry, appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Monday to present the case as to why the president should not be impeached. Castor argued during his opening statement that it would be “baloney” to impeach President Donald Trump over “eight lines” in the non-verbatim memo of Trump’s infamous July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It was an argument immediately called out as a combination of “straw man” and a “red herring.”

Castor: "To impeach a president who 63 million people voted for over 8 lines in a call transcript is baloney." This is a straw man and a red herring all rolled into one. It isn't just about the transcript, much less 8 lines of it. — Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) December 9, 2019

Watch Castor’s statement below:

"To impeach a president who 63 million people voted for over eight lines in a call transcript is baloney." — Steve Castor pic.twitter.com/qbvap1vG8q — Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 9, 2019

Castor said that rather than violating his oath of office, President Trump took care to faithfully execute the laws. He echoed George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley’s criticism of Democrats, about undertaking a so-called “rushed impeachment.” (Turley was one of four constitutional law experts who testified last week, and the only expert called by Republicans. The other three, called by Democrats, all said it was clear Trump committed impeachable offenses.)

“The artificial and arbitrary political deadline by which Democrats are determined to finish impeachment by Christmas leads to a rushed process and missed opportunities to obtain relevant information,” Castor said.

Castor went on to make some arguments that raised the eyebrows of numerous observers.

“Democrats didn’t even try to hold witness who defied subpoenas in contempt.”

https://twitter.com/matthewamiller/status/1204059377226919937?s=20

So, Steve Castor just suggested holding recalcitrant Administration witnesses in contempt… This is their defense of @realDonaldTrump? — Jonathan Franks (@jonfranks) December 9, 2019

The implications of discrediting Michael Cohen, the president’s now-incarcerated former longtime attorney and fixer… while the president’s current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is at the center of the impeachment inquiry.

Castor tries to dismiss Michael Cohen's testimony by calling him a "disgraced felon." Yeah, wow. Imagine who would ever use that guy as their personal attorney and fixer. — Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 9, 2019

Steve Castor's attack on Michael Cohen's credibility offers an exciting concept for the GOP defense of the president: "You can't trust any of these witnesses, they worked for Donald Trump, obviously they are criminals." — David Frum (@davidfrum) December 9, 2019

Minority counsel Steve Castor dismisses Michael Cohen as "a disgraced felon." He was Pres. Trump's attorney for more than a decade. pic.twitter.com/3sQHcVwaKG — Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) December 9, 2019

The Mueller investigation was too long, and this one is too short.

Castor bashes Mueller investigation as too long and too expensive. Now he's saying this process has been too short and too narrow… — Annie Karni (@anniekarni) December 9, 2019

Castor focused on the “process” and Democrats, not the substance of the allegations against the president.

"This unfair process reflects the degree to which Democrats are obsessed with impeaching the president." — Steve Castor pic.twitter.com/99XvtwQmPI — Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) December 9, 2019

https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1204059002331697152?s=20

In a nutshell, the defense in the impeachment of the 45th POTUS: Dems don't like POTUS are doing this for political reasons. Even though polling shows it's NOT good politics for them. Castor, the GOP attorney, is ….. not even trying to dispute the facts Berke laid out. — Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) December 9, 2019

This is what Dems are taking from Castor's opening: It's a lengthy indictment of Democrats' purported motives but makes no effort to defend Trump on the substance of the Ukraine allegations >>> https://t.co/bSHvMkYBET — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 9, 2019

Lying about a “key point”? We know the Ukrainians knew military aid was withheld before it was publicly reported for the first time.

Looks like Castor did not tell the truth on a key point. #ImpeachmentHearings https://t.co/UzJHdvUGko — David Corn (@DavidCornDC) December 9, 2019

Paging Mr. Castor! You're telling the American people something that is not true! Surely, you don't want to do that. Zelenskiy felt pressure early on and U.S. officials knew that. Also, we have common sense. Of course, he felt pressure, but would not say that publicly. https://t.co/vhVt60pxhj — Elizabeth de la Vega (@Delavegalaw) December 9, 2019

How strange that Castor repeats the argument that the Ukrainians didn’t know the aid was withheld until late August, when we have documents and testimony dating it to July 25 if not earlier. — Blake News (@blakehounshell) December 9, 2019

[Image via CSPAN screengrab]

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