“I thought the first attorney for the president today did not present a case, which surprised me. Did not make any arguments,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who also voted to uphold the constitutionality of the trial. “The second attorney representing the president clearly did, and did a competent job. I’m puzzled by the presentation of the first attorney.”

David Schoen, the second attorney, offered a more conventional presentation appealing to the GOP. But he bobbled the timeline of the impeachment trial, blaming House Democrats for declining to send the article until Trump was out of office. Yet the Senate was on recess during that period — which made it impossible for Trump’s trial to start without the Senate deciding to reconvene on an emergency basis.

Generally, Republicans were warmer on Schoen. But Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former state Supreme Court judge and state attorney general, conceded of the presentation: “Not one of the finest I’ve seen.

“The first lawyer, just rambled on and on and on and didn’t really address the constitutional argument,” Cornyn said. ”Finally the second lawyer got around to it.”