GOP lawyer's confusing questioning during the Trump impeachment hearing sent the internet into a tizzy

Kelly McLaughlin

Nov 14, 2019, 00:59 IST

GOP lawyer's confusing questioning during the Trump impeachment hearing sent the internet into a tizzy

impeachment hearings devin nunes republicans

Steve Castor, Republican staff attorney for the House Oversight Committee, was widely mocked for his confusing questioning during a hearing of impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Castor on Wednesday questioned the top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, and deputy assistant secretary of state George Kent, and became the butt of internet jokes for his unfocused line of inquiry.
The GOP lawyer was panned by people who said he alluded to conspiracy theories, tried to get Taylor to say Trump thought Ukrainians were "out to get him", and blundered a question during the hearing,
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A Republican staff attorney for the House Oversight Committee was the butt of internet jokes on Wednesday over confusing line of questioning during a hearing for the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Attorney Steve Castor, the House Intelligence Committee Counsel for the minority, asked the top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent questions on behalf of the GOP as part of the hearing, but many people didn't understand his game plan.

People on social media noticed the dizzying nature of Castor's questioning, saying it was unclear what he was ultimately trying to do.

They said that while Castor was questioning Taylor, he alluded to conspiracy theories, tried to get Taylor to say Trump thought Ukrainians were "out to get him" during the 2016 election, and blundered a questioned he didn't know the answer to.

Many people made jokes about his struggles on Twitter:

If you can track any sort of narrative or arc in this line of questioning from Castor, can you please let me know? Because I'm having some trouble.
- Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) November 13, 2019

Whatever the GOP counsel is doing, it's not working. I don't undertand where he's going.
- Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) November 13, 2019

Yikes, this is going badly for the minority. Castor can't seem to establish a line of inquiry and Taylor is unwilling to take his bait.
- Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) November 13, 2019

GOP counsel Castor just blundered into a question he didn't know the answer to, asking why Taylor or Kent weren't involved in prepping POTUS for 7/25 call. Kent says thats NSC's job. Hard to see where this line of questioning is going...
- Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) November 13, 2019

GOP counsel Castor does not seem to be familiar with basics of how US diplomacy in foreign nations works. He asks if Ukrainian readout of Trump call was 'cryptic' because it was in Ukrainian?
- Susan Glasser (@sbg1) November 13, 2019

#ImpeachmentHearings

Steve Castor looks REAL comfortable sandwiched between these two idiots. pic.twitter.com/exEXqiqkzO
- John Fritz (@WhatDeeFuq) November 13, 2019

Steve Castor is an off-brand Joseph Fiennes in The Handmaid's Tale. Discuss. #ImpeachmentHearings pic.twitter.com/KUILvFlxOE
- Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) November 13, 2019

Steve Castor is not going to like the SNL version of himself.
- Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) November 13, 2019

I'm not sure if Steve Castor is a bad lawyer or if he was just given a bad assignment, but Daniel Goldman has been running circles around this guy. #ImpeachmentHearings
- Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 13, 2019

Steve Castor #ImpeachmentHearings pic.twitter.com/pNZRY036YR
- Ryan Kalbfleisch (@ryan2985) November 13, 2019

Taylor has no idea how to respond to the conspiracy theories Republican Counsel Steve Castor is alluding to here. Yikes! pic.twitter.com/D8d0Yo0lhq
- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 13, 2019

Steve Castor is trying to make some point tbd about presidential head of state call prep without having any clue how the process normally works.
- Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) November 13, 2019