CNN's Jeffrey Toobin praises Schiff, Dems: 'I don't want to sound like a partisan,' but they've been 'so much better'

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Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney, weighs in as House impeachment managers and President Trump's legal team debate rules for the Senate trial.

CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin showered House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif, and other Democrats with praise over their handling of the impeachment trial, declaring they're "so much better" than President Trump's defense team.

During the network's coverage of the launch of the impeachment trial on Tuesday, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked Toobin to compare the "presentations" from the House managers and the president's counsel. However, Toobin insisted there wasn't even a "close comparison."

"You know, I don't want to sound like a partisan, but the Democrats have been so much better, it's not even a close comparison as far as I can tell," Toobin began.

The CNN analyst then complimented Schiff, who is serving as the lead House manager during the impeachment trial.

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"Adam Schiff knows the facts. That is something that you can't fake," Toobin told the panel. "A lot of what he's doing is off the cuff. It's responding to the arguments. Most of the lawyers have just been reading, reading presentations."

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While he offered similar praise for Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, Toobin wasn't nearly as kind to others from the president's legal team, saying Pat Cipollone is "less" effective and that Patrick Philbin is "not ready for primetime."

He quickly pivoted back to the Democrats.

"I think Adam Schiff is just in charge -- he's acting like a lead prosecutor," Toobin continued. "And I think Congresswoman Lofgren, while not as theatrical of a performer, she had a very good argument to make and I thought she made it very effectively."