Donald Trump's legal team has been ridiculed for their opening statements during the former US President's impeachment trial.
Senators have gathered in the Capitol building, where the riots took place in January, to hear the arguments from the House impeachment managers and Trump's legal team and decide whether to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection.
Bruce Castor, who is leading Donald Trump's defence team, began his opening speech by praising the senators as "patriots" and saying he often gets lost in the Capitol building.
He went on to claim the impeachment effort was nothing more than an emotionally driven response from Democrats.
Castor also admitted he was caught off guard by the strength to the "amazing" arguments presented against him.
"I'll be quite frank with you, we changed what we were going to do on account that we thought the House managers' presentation was well done. I wanted you to know that we have responses to those things," he said.
People on social media have mocked the long-winded and confusing speech, pondering if he made it up on the spot.
"I have been in this government class before, where someone hasn't done the reading, napped through the first half of class, gets called on and just riffs for 15 minutes," CNN journalist Abby Phillip tweeted.
Vox reporter Aaron Rupar questioned whether Castor took a wrong turn and ended up at the wrong trial.
"What ... what is going on," he said. "Trump's impeachment trial strategy appears to be to just have folks go out there and wing it like it's an open mic night or something."
Others mused that Castor must have received his law degree from Trump University or "the prestigious University of Four Seasons Total Landscaping School of Law".
Further into the speech, it appears that Castor admits that Joe Biden won the 2020 election fairly, despite Trump's adamance of voter fraud.
"The reason that I am having trouble with the argument is - the American people just spoke and they just changed administrations," Castor told Senators. "So in the light most favourable to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle here, their system works. The people are smart enough, in the light most favourable to them, they're smart enough to pick a new administration if they don't like the old one. And they just did."
He concluded that Trump was "removed by the voters".
Social media users were left confused by the comments.
"I think Castor just clearly admitted Trump fairly lost the election. So there's that," one person said.
"Did Bruce Castor just say Trump indeed lost the election? #Oops" another wrote.
Alan Dershowitz, who served as a member of Trump's defence team during his first impeachment trial, told conservative outlet Newsmax that he presented "no argument".
"I have no idea what he is doing," Dershowitz said. "I have no idea why he's saying what he's saying. He's introducing himself, I'm a nice guy, I like my Senators... Come on, the American people are entitled to an argument."
Castor's speech was in stark contrast to the speeches presented by the impeachment managers, who are in charge of prosecuting the case.
They showed Senators a video of Trump supporters overwhelming police at the Capitol after he had encouraged them in a speech to "fight like hell" to overturn his election defeat.
Footage shows the rioters hanging a noose outside of the building, breaking windows and running through the halls of the Capitol.
During the video, some people in the Capitol were seen breaking down in tears.
