Trump's impeachment defense isn't working, says Steve Bannon

• Steve Bannon said Donald Trump's defense against impeachment charges is 'not working.'
• Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, spoke after Trump's impeachment trial began in the Senate.
• 'Changes needed and needed now,' Bannon said, according to the Associated Press.

Steve Bannon said former President Donald Trump's strategy to fight impeachment charges is not working and urged his legal team to quickly change its approach.

Bannon, Trump's former chief White House strategist, was speaking after the first day of the former president's second impeachment trial in the Senate, where he is charged with incitement relating to the deadly Capitol riot on January 6. House impeachment managers accuse Trump of encouraging the violence, which ultimately resulted in five deaths.

Bannon, who was removed as White House chief strategist in 2017, said that legal arguments pushed by Republicans which leaned on the wording of the constitution were ineffective against the more emotive arguments advanced by Democratic members of Congress.

"The strategy is not working [...] this is asymmetric information warfare: Democrats argue a coherent made-for-TV fantasy that works on an emotional level," Bannon told the Associated Press.

"Lindsey Graham's team argues the constitution and nobody cares. Changes needed and needed now."

The first day of impeachment proceedings on Tuesday focused on the constitutionality of the trial itself. The impeachment managers, who function as prosecutors for the case, argue that Trump's actions are impeachable because he was in office when the alleged offences took place.

A large majority of Republican senators last month approved a motion saying the trial was unconstitutional because Trump was no longer in office, an argument which has been dismissed by prominent Conservative lawyers.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, spoke through tears on the Senate floor as he recalled being inside the Capitol building during the siege with members of his family, who he said "thought they were going to die."

Meanwhile the rambling opening of Trump's first attorney Bruce Castor on Tuesday was heavily criticised by multiple GOP senators.

Castor repeatedly referred to obscure historical events and any central argument he was trying to advance appeared lost on the senators and lawyers who were watching proceedings.

"This was not an auspicious start for the defense today. The House was more polished and effective. The defense will need to tighten the narrative and focus the points going forward," tweeted the prominent Conservative lawyer Jonathan Turley, who last week admonished Republican senators for suggesting the impeachment trial itself was unconstitutional.

Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer who defended Trump in his first impeachment trial in 2018, said afterwards: "There is no argument. I have no idea what he's doing. I have no idea why he's saying what he's saying."

Sen. Ted Cruz, echoing the criticism of many GOP colleagues, said: "I don't think the lawyers did the most effective job."

Although Castor's defense appears to have worried some GOP senators, it still appears very unlikely that GOP senators will cross the floor in sufficient numbers to prosecute Trump.

A total of 17 GOP Senators would be required to vote with Democratic colleagues in order to secure a successful conviction, and only five voted in January to throw the trial out.