Trump impeachment trial live updates: Biden makes 1st comments on acquittal

Bruce Castor opened arguments for the defense team in a wide-ranging speech in which he first praised the arguments of the House impeachment managers and then took issue with -- arguing the nation's Founders didn't intend for former officials to face trial and, citing the First Amendment, that Trump should not be held accountable for his political speech.

"That's what we broke away from Great Britain in order to do," Castor said. "To be able to say what we thought."

"This trial is about trading liberty for security from the mob? Honestly, no. It can't be. We can't be thinking about that," he continued. "We can't possibly be suggesting that we punish people for political speech in this country. And if people go and commit lawless acts as a result of their beliefs and they cross the line, they should be locked up."

Castor said that none of the rioters have been charged for conspiring with Trump and called Democrats' argument that Trump violated the 14th Amendment "absolutely ridiculous."

One overarching point of Castor's was an argument heard in Trump's first impeachment trial -- that the Senate must reject this impeachment to prevent future trials or else, "The pressure will be enormous to respond in kind."

"The political pendulum will shift one day," Castor continued. "And partisan impeachments will become commonplace."

He also took issue with the House passing a single article of impeachment, which he deemed casting too wide of a net, rather than breaking it into parts.

"The article of impeachment is indivisible and the reason why that's significant is you have to agree that every single aspect of the entire document warrants impeachment because it's an all-or-nothing document. You can't cut out parts that you agree with," Castor said.

"We are really here because the majority of the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future," he added. "Nobody says it that plainly, but unfortunately I have a way of speaking that way."

Trump attorney Bruce Castor opened by praising the "outstanding presentation" from House impeachment managers, noting what Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and his family endured "during that terrible day."

"You will not hear any member of the team representing former President Trump say anything but in the strongest possible way denounce the violence of the rioters and those that breached the Capitol, the very citadel of our democracy, literally the symbol that flashes on television whenever you're trying to explain that we're talking about the United States, instant symbol," Castor said.

Notably, Castor referred to Trump as "the former president," a term the Trump team has avoided using in their press releases.

Castor, a former Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, district attorney faced criticism in that role for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005.

The Senate returned from a 10-minute break following the arguments from the House impeachment managers.

Trump's legal team has taken the floor with Bruce Castor opening with his argument that it's unconstitutional to put a former president on trial.

House impeachment manager Rep. Jim Cicilline, D-R.I., offered an early rebuttal to arguments expected from Trump's legal team, beginning by arguing that the former president is not merely a private citizen, saying that he "he can and should answer" for his use of power.

Cicilline also read a tweet from Trump that was posted hours after the attack and once again falsely claiming the election was "stripped" from him. Cicilline said that tweet "chills him to the core."

"The president of the United States sided with the insurrectionists, he celebrated their cause, he validated their attack, Cicilline said. "He told them, 'remember this day forever,' hours after they marched through these halls looking to assassinate Vice President Pence, the speaker of the house and any of us they could find."

Cicilline also pushed back on the expected argument that the impeachment is partisan and could enflame partisan tensions.

"They'll assert that this impeachment is partisan and that the spirit of bipartisanship and bipartisan cooperation requires us to drop the case and march forward in unity. With all due respect, every premise and every argument of that conclusion is wrong. Just weeks ago, the president of the United States literally incited an armed attack on the capitol, our seat of government, while seeking to retain power by subverting an election he lost and then celebrated the attack," Cicilline said. "People died, people were brutally injured. President Trump's actions endangered every single member of Congress."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel