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February 13, 2021
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Trump’s attorneys did exactly what they needed to do in their argument on Friday, and it was astonishingly good. As Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said, they “legally eviscerated” the House managers’ case and “blew [it] out of the water.” Sean Hannity had a great segment Friday evening showing how it went down.

The defense accomplished this in about an hour –- dramatically less time than the House impeachment managers had taken to repeatedly present fake "evidence" and shamefully manipulate the emotions of those inside the Senate chamber. It conclusively debunked some classic lies told about Trump, such as the fake “fine people on both sides” quote. It featured an attorney we hadn’t seen before, the magnificent Michael van der Veen, who chastised House managers for having the nerve to claim the First Amendment didn’t apply in an impeachment proceeding.

And what better way to counter the Democrats’ deceptively-edited “movie” --- which I have labeled falsified evidence --- than with their own video, accurately depicting rhetoric much harsher and more violent than anything Trump has ever come close to saying.

Game, set, match. On CNN, they tried to dismiss it as a partisan stunt, “a Sean Hannity mix tape.” But what else could they say? No, it was breathtaking in the way it made its point.

THE EPOCH TIMES has a good summary of the proceedings. Note the description of Democrat senators’ response, rolling their eyes and “finding” reasons to excuse their own behavior while still condemning Trump.

The defense was able to show that a tweet used by the House managers had been deceptively photoshopped. Another choice moment was when Republican senators questioned an impeachment manager about Kamala Harris’s promotion of a fund, the Minnesota Freedom Fund, that bailed out rioters.

As reported in the WASHINGTON EXAMINER, the “trial” was poised to conclude on Saturday. (I had thought it was supposed to be in recess on Saturday, to accommodate the request by a Jewish participant for a recess from 5PM Friday until Sunday.)

But late Friday night, after the spectacular presentation from Trump’s attorneys that made them all look like fools, Democrats must have decided they’d seen too much of their own blood on the Senate floor, and they started talking about bringing in witnesses after all. I guess if I were an attorney and the last day of arguments had gone that badly for me, I would be thinking of something –- anything –- else to try as well.

After seeing a helpful report on CNN, Democrats started thinking they might have something to be gained by examining a phone call between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy the day of the riot. Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Friday on MSNBC that “if they made the decision to call witnesses, we would welcome that.”

Recall that legal analyst Jonathan Turley had questioned the Democrats’ odd lack of interest in calling witnesses. Over and over, they referred to media reports instead of calling the people directly involved. On Thursday, according to USA TODAY, the Democrat managers were saying they had made their case.

If Democrats want to start calling witnesses now, they’ll have to get at least a 50-50 vote for that (with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said it would be up to the House managers to decide if they want to pursue it, implying that all the Senate Democrats would go along. One catch: if they do this, Trump's defense gets to call witnesses, too.

What some Democrats apparently want to do, after Trump’s attorneys slapped them down hard on Thursday by revealing their lies and falsification of evidence, is to dig into the phone call President Trump had with Rep. McCarthy on the day of the riot. Numerous Republicans were reportedly briefed on this call. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican who voted “yes” to impeach Trump, says he was told about the call by Rep. McCarthy. (Note: in a real trial, this would be called “hearsay.”)

Beautler has tweeted that McCarthy told him he’d called the President after the riot had begun and asked him to “publicly and forcefully” call it off. The President had told McCarthy that it was antifa doing the rioting. McCarthy had told the President that, no, these were Trump supporters. And the President had said, “Well, Kevin, I guess those people are more upset about the election than you are.”

It is true that Trump could have been more forceful in calling off the protesters; he appears in this secondhand description of the call to have blown it off with a quip. But did he even realize how serious it was when he said that? At some entrances to the Capitol, protesters apparently were waved in by Capitol Police as if they were expected. In other locations, the breach grew extremely contentious and even led to a woman being shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer. It sounds as if Trump had no idea it was this bad when he made that comment.

So, there are different ways this hearsay account can be interpreted, and none of them have to do with “incitement.” Of course, Democrats always assume the worst motives on Trump’s part, but it could simply be that he really did think antifa was doing it –- indeed, some antifa were involved –- and also that he didn’t yet know how much it had escalated.

The way to find this out would be to call Trump. Maybe if they hadn’t thrown the Constitution down the toilet and insisted on “trying” him as a private citizen, he would've been more cooperative.

According to the WASHINGTON EXAMINER, the “trial” will resume at 10AM ET on Saturday (so much for the request to honor the Sabbath), with up to four hours devoted to the question of whether or not to call witnesses and documents. If there is no successful vote to do that, they’ll go to closing arguments and could even hold a final vote as soon as Saturday afternoon.

Alan Dershowitz, who thought the Trump defense was lackluster on its first day, in which they argued against the constitutionality of the proceedings, gave them an “A+” for Friday. In his words, “they did a masterful job on narrowing the issues, making the senators focus on it, and I think it was a winning argument. I think they redeemed themselves.” Dershowitz believed as I do, that the key words were those the Democrats fraudulently cut out of Trump’s video, the “peacefully and patriotically” part.

"This is gonna go down in history as a terrible, terrible abuse of the Constitution,” he said. “Democrats put themselves above the law, putting a private citizen on trial...for making speeches protected by the First Amendment.” An acquittal will minimize the damage, he said but “already there’s been a lot of damage done to our Constitution and to the divisions in our country.”

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Comments 1-25 of 79

  • Jim rehak

    02/15/2021 05:40 PM

    I am so tired of all of this . It’s like Nero fiddles while Rome burns! I spent too much Time reading the mountains or real evidence and affidavits today . If this election is allowed to stand as is there is very little hope for this nation . I truly believe that China with oligarchs from this country who have more money than the US government ( trillions without the 30 trillion in debt) are to blame and we are pretty much helpless to fight them if they continue to be allowed to fraudulently control election outcomes . What else do we have as a weapon? I read an article about the Venezuelan election around 2002 . A woman who was involved in the politics of the time , her name escapes me but I’ll bet you know who I am referring to. Scary stuff , her take away message was something like “don’t let keeping peace today rob you of all your freedoms a few years from now . If our silence allows the left to continue stealing elections we are done for as a country . We will betray all those who have fought for freedom in the past if this mess is not fixed now.

  • Doris Pray

    02/15/2021 10:26 AM

    With all the bad road conditions and weather, would this not be an ideal time to open the keystone pipeline and stop the political issues of the Democrat party

  • Cathy Grantham

    02/15/2021 09:21 AM

    Prior to the election, I, as a Roman Catholic, said Rosaries and prayers, afraid of the Communism we have been threatened with. We lost the election. We know President Trump isn't necessarily a religious man but he has helped our freedom of religion and pro-life more than any other president, and we appreciate him. After losing the elections, I was so down. But losing may have been THE BEST thing ever. All this corruption is center stage now. We see the hypocrisy and evil coming to light that has been hidden or just ignored. We cannot ignore this stuff any longer. What I see is fence-riding individuals finally forced to acknowledge what is going on. If they let it go, it is on them. They cannot claim ignorance or falsehoods. They have to acknowledge what they have put into motion. Either they get busy and help to get rid of the rot or they will eat it. Of course, we all suffer. But up to this time, all I have heard from those folks is, "I hate to watch the news and turn it off", or the old crap, "I don't want to force my beliefs on anyone else.", or "I don't believe in killing babies but need the money they promise for farmer's relief, etc. etc." Disgusting.

  • jerry thomas

    02/14/2021 07:51 PM

    Keep preaching Governor about the 2 party system. We must not divide the conservatives vote. In less than 2 years we can take back both the Senate and the House. At that point Impeachment hearings can be held for a number of Congressmen who have lied to Congress, the Senate and the people. By the way, there is a Vice President who has advocated for violence over the public air ways that could be included in that vote.

  • Elaine Liming

    02/14/2021 06:50 PM

    Thanks you for all the work and summaries of this yet another impeachment trial Of Trump. I agree with the comment from one of your readers on what Jesus himself went through with those in power. I also remember the words "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". I hope Trump will forgive but will continue to rise again, wiser and stronger and become our Leader once again. I want him to use this time to write better tweets,
    I agree when you have commented it is time for conservatives to come together and act for the greater good. I believe the election was stolen. We the people in every state need to come up with stronger election laws. Reform is in order and we need to protect our Constitution. We must starting acting now in each of our states. First thing is to come up with a plan and make it happen. To all of your readers we must act now. Technology is wonderful but it has happened so fast we have forgotten to ask ourselves basic questions. Let take voting machines--the good side was to make counting faster and easier, we forgot to ask what could go wrong. Each state needs to come up with what they want the voting machine to do for voting and collection --design a machine for their state. Put in their design, fire walls that can not be broken ( hacked into by other countries, states, individual groups wanting to do harm. Can this be done- we have the technology and manpower to do this. Mailing in ballots are not safe---it would be costly to make this safe. Even the paper used can be tampered with! Our plan must put security in voting as a priority. We should also have a safe plan for those who can't come to the polls like the elderly, those in our arm services, prisons, and away from their states at election time for good reasons. I think if we put our heads together, starting writing our state election leaders, and those in Washington, and demand that Election reform must be a top priority. I mean by demand that we load them with mail demanding they work, Take action now! After the show in Washington this past week of some of these Senators, I shake my head and keeping asking myself how did these __________ get elected in the first place. (you fill in the blank)

  • Brenda Massey

    02/14/2021 06:20 PM

    What happened with Mitch MConnell. He through Trump under the bus. Could he to be compromised to China to with his wife’s family ship building business. They definitely profit from China just like the Biden’s

  • Allison Wright

    02/14/2021 01:47 PM

    How do we support a party that just had a guy in the White House who even THEY chose not to support? Who do we count on to be a voice for us, the people, not just another political agenda? I agree with you that we do not need to form a third party. What disillusioned patriots would prefer is for the Republican Party to admit that they were not acting on behalf of conservatives either but were self-serving their OWN political gain by being a party to running Donald Trump out of office, AND commit to supporting true conservatives? Why would we continue to support a party that does not act on behalf of the people it is supposed to represent? Of course, there are a few brave and true conservative politicians out there getting beat up (again, without the support of the Republican party which is cowering somewhere out of fear of being embarrassed by conservatives who dare to speak up against the communist tidal wave rolling over our country.) Do you have a good response to those of us who are feeling this way?

  • Len Showalter

    02/14/2021 01:08 PM

    Mike,
    Thank you for your information that you post twice a day. It is wonderful to have someone that gives a conservative and Godly point of view on political/social matters.
    I have a spiritual thought on President Trump that I would like to share with you. I have read the historical story on Jesus and his encounters with the political powers and "spiritual" leaders of His time. They they hated Him because of His understanding of the law and could not stand Him and wanted to kill him because they were jealous of His love of God, His powers, and His love for the common man.
    Not that I think that Trump is Jesus, but I see that he has had the same effect on those in power. They hate him and they want to "crucify" him. They have made every effort to destroy him politically, financially, and emotionally regardless of the truth. They continually bring charges against him that are false. *There are so many similarities.*
    I believe that Trump will win just as Jesus did. It may not be in the way we normally think (just like His disciples thought that Jesus was dead but then rose again on the third day to their surprise), but he will succeed and be victorious in the end.

  • Patrick Canan

    02/14/2021 12:50 PM

    Hi Governor: Either you or I missed something regarding non-observance of the Sabbath during the trial:

    Senate to pause Trump impeachment for Sabbath
    Sun., February 7, 2021, 5:55 p.m.
    The U.S. Senate will pause former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial from Friday evening to Saturday evening, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday.
    The decision to pause proceedings honors a request by Trump attorney David Schoen, who observes the Jewish Sabbath.

    By Zoe Richards
    February 9, 2021 8:00 a.m.
    A lawyer leading former President Donald Trump’s defense effort in his impeachment trial withdrew a request on Monday to pause the Senate’s trial during the Jewish Sabbath, a delay that likely would have impacted the timing of the proceedings set to begin on Tuesday.

    I'm also wondering if you listened to Senator McConnell's explanation of why he chose to vote against conviction. I can't believe he was alone in this assessment.

    The House team was rightly criticized for the way they twisted material, but I hate to see you do the same. Your voice is too important. I remain a Republican, but I am sickened by President Trump's behavior and what he has done to a once-proud party.

  • Peter Rodi

    02/14/2021 11:04 AM

    Governor Huckabee...... Like my comments on your email yesterday, this recounting of Trump's attorney's final remarks in defense of his innocence is A+ !!!

  • Rene Venuto

    02/14/2021 05:04 AM

    Awesome ????

  • Marolyn turner

    02/13/2021 11:04 PM

    Why did mitch McConnell make a derogatory comment about Donald trump after his acquittal.

  • Donald Tygart

    02/13/2021 10:24 PM

    Gov, sorry I missed you in your Tuxedo and Scuba gear - would have been a good wall mount picture.
    But, anyway, I can't help but wonder what those Republican Senators were thinking about when they voted the way they did - no evidence to convict - what was prepared was severely edited. How can people on the high end of intelligence - find it so easy to throw someone's life away - on a whim?
    Is it because they don't like his crusty exterior? Twitter feeds? Him? Just saying 'it's political' doesn't give this justice. There was NO evidence against him and they still found him guilty. Are they too - that much afraid of him? But then they did almost the same thing to Ted Stevens, but in a court - also without evidence.

  • Jeff Bell

    02/13/2021 09:22 PM

    After seeing and hearing the new information that was shared by President Trump's lawyers the news people on CNN still did not believe any of the information. I know they do not give the true news but are they blind? So glad most of the Republicans could see the sit up by the Democrats. Just too bad seven of the Republicans are just like Bush and not true Republicans anymore.

  • Jenifer Schulz

    02/13/2021 08:31 PM

    Mr. Huckabee, I think now that Pelosi, Biden, Harris, and all their cronies need to now pay back every dime that was spent on these two ridiculus impeachments out of their personal bank accounts. They have wasted four years doing nothing but wasting time and money. It is time for them to pay up.

  • J C Squiers

    02/13/2021 08:31 PM

    Mike, thank you for all your work on this unlawful and unpatriotic trial and your calming words based in truth. You have helped so many of us to understand how and why the Constitution was written and we must protect it to save our nation.
    God bless you and your family, be safe and live each day to its fullest.
    J C Squiers

  • Chris Campbell

    02/13/2021 08:31 PM

    I still contend, with the Senate as divided as it was in the sham impeachment, act II, that the country is irredeemably divided, conservative versus leftist, and that we should divide. Conservatives can form the Texas Republic, and let the leftists rot on the vine.

  • Christine Hankins

    02/13/2021 08:26 PM

    Why worry about how history will regard this sham trial? If the Republic doesn’t survive our history likewise will not. It’s being destroyed already!

  • John F. Phillips

    02/13/2021 07:10 PM

    Mike! My heart is happy that Pres. Trump finally gets some vindication! Thank you. John.

  • Elizabeth Echols

    02/13/2021 07:03 PM

    About the Cuomo lies and "misinformation: I understand the payback to nursing home companies who can only charge when patients stay there. i.e. Nursing homes get political payback for contributing to Cuomo's campaign. What I keep thinking about is the shortfall in the state budget that must have improved dramatically since New York's senior citizens were dying more quickly and therefore their pensions did not need any more funding! Some accounting on that issue might be interesting. Lastly, why would Cuomo not give the patients a choice of using the hospital ship or the Samaritan's Purse hospital? If it was his mother, would things have been different?

  • Bonnie G Rutherford

    02/13/2021 06:43 PM

    The defense attorneys certainly showed what amateurs the house managers are when it comes to their knowledge of the law. They also showed how deceitful and untrustworthy Democrats have become.
    What idiots!! I also want to express how disappointed this Kentucky native is in Mitch McConnell. What he said about President Trump will never be forgotten by Kentucky citizens. His political career is over in Kentucky. Maybe we all need to move to Arkansas.

  • Michael

    02/13/2021 06:38 PM

    The dispicable Democrat's prove once again that they will stoop to any level with their HATE of President Trump, plus the seven disposable ( vote them out) Republicans. Those major RINO'S need no suppprt from their respective states. Ben Sasse from Nebraska should be ejected. He is no Midwesterner, just full of hate for Trump. Shame on Nebraska for voting in that joke!! All the Democrats prove how anti-American they are, but the Republican party overall is full of spineless cowards and traitors, including Mitch McConnell. Need a major cleaning out or there is no hope. But there is no hope in 2022 or 2024 because no one is investigating the rigged and stolen election!!! If nothing is done the Democrats will always steal elections and the Republicans will continue as always to roll over and play along to get along!!!!! 75+++ million voters want more of the Trump fighter than these Republicans who talk out of both sides of their mouths and in the end do nothing!!!! As far as President Trump he truly tried to make America Great Again and now we have China Joe's America Last agenda!!! Not much hope unless God gives us hope or sets in place to take His believers out of this earth via the Rapture!!!!

  • John Shields

    02/13/2021 06:16 PM

    Well said sir.

  • rodney burke

    02/13/2021 05:34 PM

    "indisputable facts?" really? Are libs THAT delusional? They are. If they call witnesses, they will eviscerated for a second time and the "trial" will be an utter failure...AGAIN! When Rafkin says "Where I come from when there is altered evidence, the case is thrown out." Things are VERY wrong, who else who isn't speaking up has come to that same conclusion? The ultimate damage is to the Dems. They are gonna look like crooks, liars and frauds which they are without a doubt.. When the time is right? It's gonna be rough on the left. If they think DT desn't have it all, they will be in for a shock. Yep get the popcorn ready, maybe a jug of sweet tea? ha, ha!

  • john gray sr.

    02/13/2021 05:21 PM

    The outcome was not a perfect correction for an imperfect Democratic Party, but it not allows the Trump family the opportunity to take any and all Politicians to the Supreme Court if he so desires. The one thing that Pelosi and her cronies have not considered is that personal harassment of any private citizen by anyone is grounds for a law suit. It does not matter who you are.