Trump isn’t the only one on trial — now Republicans are too: former impeachment lawyer

Former Democratic impeachment counsel Norm Eisen explained in his Thursday USA Today column that the trial is no longer about just President Donald Trump on trial, but Republican senators too.

"A second defendant has stepped into the dock in this first week of Donald Trump's impeachment trial," he wrote. The U.S. Senate itself is now on trial as such "one-sidedness" threatens the reputations, careers and historic consequences for those who refuse to convict Trump.

Eisen called the House managers "compelling" and noted Wednesday was the best opening to a trial that he has ever seen in his professional career.

They brought back the terror and fear that many felt not knowing if they'd make it out of the Capitol. House managers had closed-circuit television video showing Vice President Mike Pence being rushed to safety steps from the attackers, the nuclear football being rushed in behind him. There was a video that revealed Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) narrowly escaping the attackers after entering a hallway not knowing where he should run. He turned left, only to have Officer Eugene Goodman pull him the other direction. As a Trump enemy, Romney could very easily have been killed by the attackers.

Meanwhile, Trump's lawyers have struggled. While his lawyer Bruce Castor rambled about people he saw in the Senate audience, even his other lawyer, who came prepared, was nothing to write home about, Eisen explained.

"For all Castor's ineptitude, co-counsel David Schoen was also awful. While he did have a semblance of an actual legal argument about the constitutionality of proceeding with a trial, he was angry, disjointed and off-point," Eisen wrote. "Worst of all, he also threatened more violence — hinting that the proceedings would lead to a second civil war."

"This trial will tear this country apart," said Schoen this week. "Perhaps like we've only seen once before in our history."

He closed by noting that when the trial began, it was about whether Republicans had the courage to stand up to Trump. Now, things are different.

"Now that question has turned around: Will 33 or more of them take the risk of defying the unmistakable legal and factual conclusions directed by their oaths? Are they willing to take the blow to their reputations of doing the wrong thing? If they do, the American people and posterity will not forgive them," Eisen said.

Read the full column at USA Today. USA Today.