Trump never conceded he lost, but his impeachment lawyer did

Washington, Feb 10 (AP): One of the lawyers heading former President Donald Trump’s defense at his second impeachment trial did what Trump himself has not: conceded Joe Biden won the presidential election.
In opening remarks, lawyer Bruce Castor said: “The American people just spoke, and they just changed administrations.” He added that Americans are “smart enough to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one, and they just did.” The comments by Castor, a former county prosecutor in Pennsylvania, were a surprising contrast to Trump’s defiance. The former president repeatedly disputed the results of the election, falsely claiming he won in a “landslide.” And he kept up the baseless claims through the end of his presidency, including during a speech at a rally that preceded the January 6 riot at the Capitol, which set in motion his trial on a charge of incitement of insurrection. “We will stop the steal,” he said at the rally. “I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election, and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election.”
There was no widespread fraud in the election, as has been confirmed by election officials across the country and former Attorney General William Barr. Dozens of legal challenges to the election put forth by Trump and his allies were dismissed. After the riot stunned the country, Trump acknowledged that a transition of power would occur.
In a statement tweeted Jan. 7 by his social media director, Dan Scavino, he said: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20.”
Trump watched proceedings from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where he was furious about his lawyers’ performance. According to a person familiar with his thinking, Trump was impressed with a video compilation of the riot that Democrats showed in their opening presentation and thought his team looked shoddy in comparison. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
In the past, including during his first impeachment trial, Trump has touted the arguments of his own lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz. But Trump’s suspension from Twitter meant no real-time public review of Castor’s performance or the performance of Trump’s other lawyer, David Schoen, a frequent legal commentator on TV.