Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / From ‘Roe’ To Impeachment

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From ‘Roe’ To Impeachment · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

0:00
Speaker 1: House Democrats wrap up their case against the president. The
0:03
Speaker 1: President's arguments will begin tomorrow, and we all march for
0:07
Speaker 1: life on the forty seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
0:11
Speaker 1: And that sounds like it's two very different stories. Actually
0:14
Speaker 1: there's a key connection between the two. We will get
0:17
Speaker 1: into all of that. This is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
0:27
Speaker 1: Welcome back. I'm Michael Knowles, and I actually should have
0:30
Speaker 1: been more specific. What I meant to say was, this
0:33
Speaker 1: is Verdict with Ted Cruz, the third biggest podcast on
0:37
Speaker 1: the charts right now. Congratulations, senator, Well back at you
0:41
Speaker 1: we are. We are number three on the charts of
0:43
Speaker 1: all podcasts and number one in news. We are beating
0:48
Speaker 1: the New York Times. I'm sorry, could you say that again? Oh?
0:51
Speaker 1: Did you? Maybe? Perhaps you couldn't couldn't hear me? I
0:53
Speaker 1: just wanted to say, we're beating the New York Times.
0:56
Speaker 1: Well that that is a wonderful thing in a testament
0:59
Speaker 1: to all the good people are listening. Man, It sounds
1:01
Speaker 1: like birds chirping sort of in the studio. But we
1:03
Speaker 1: have a lot to get to today. We have the
1:05
Speaker 1: Democrats wrapping up their arguments. We've got the Trump team
1:09
Speaker 1: is going to begin tomorrow, and in the fifteen minutes
1:12
Speaker 1: that you got free today you ended up marching for
1:15
Speaker 1: life out on the national mall. All true. And it's
1:20
Speaker 1: ten forty five, so we're getting started tonight earlier than
1:23
Speaker 1: we have any day this week. This is a very
1:25
Speaker 1: early night, so let's not squander the time. How do
1:29
Speaker 1: you think the Democrats did in their closing arguments? Well,
1:33
Speaker 1: I think all hundred senators are grateful that the twenty
1:36
Speaker 1: four hour marathon is over. I think it's an interesting
1:40
Speaker 1: decision of the house managers to consume practically every minute
1:45
Speaker 1: of those twenty four hours. Listen, Adam Schiff gave the clothes,
1:50
Speaker 1: and there were moments of it that were powerful. I mean,
1:52
Speaker 1: he is an effective trial lawyer, is a talented trial lawyer.
1:56
Speaker 1: He can be an effective orator. I think we saw
1:59
Speaker 1: throughout the opening arguments the house managers used multimedia quite effectively.
2:04
Speaker 1: So there were moments that they drove in with different
2:06
Speaker 1: video clips that that worked and it broke up the
2:10
Speaker 1: kind of long arguments and it did it did manage
2:13
Speaker 1: to pull people's attention well. And that's something you're seeing,
2:15
Speaker 1: by the way, in trial courts much more often now. Videos.
2:18
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's effective. Trial lawyers know how to
2:21
Speaker 1: do that, and we saw that on display. I also
2:24
Speaker 1: think shifted a good job. He had a big chunk
2:27
Speaker 1: of his closing that was trying to preempt the president's arguments.
2:32
Speaker 1: And it's because of the structure of it. House managers
2:35
Speaker 1: have twenty four hours and the president has twenty four hours,
2:37
Speaker 1: and there's not a rebuttal. So he knew they're getting
2:39
Speaker 1: ready to start, and so he went through dozens of
2:44
Speaker 1: potential arguments that they will almost surely make, and he
2:46
Speaker 1: tried to give responses to it. What was he preempting,
2:49
Speaker 1: I mean, what were the big arguments that he expects
2:51
Speaker 1: from I mean he went through whether their process, arguments,
2:53
Speaker 1: whether I mean, he went through a whole host But
2:56
Speaker 1: you actually put your finger on a major failing I
2:59
Speaker 1: think he had, which is he didn't shine a lantern
3:03
Speaker 1: on his biggest problem. So he briefly noted, well, the
3:07
Speaker 1: house managers might suggest Joe Biden's corrupt, but there's no
3:11
Speaker 1: evidence of that. And that's all he said. He's setting
3:15
Speaker 1: himself up. It's it's the biggest weakness of their entire
3:19
Speaker 1: case is that they have built their case on the
3:22
Speaker 1: proposition there is zero evidence, none, whatsoever, of any corruption
3:29
Speaker 1: concerning Joe Biden, concerning his son Hunter Biden, concerning barism,
3:34
Speaker 1: the Ukrainian Natural Gas Company was paying Hunter Biden a
3:37
Speaker 1: million bucks a year. That's a straw map, because yesterday
3:42
Speaker 1: that the House Democrats in making their case, they kept saying,
3:45
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with Barize mother, there's nothing wrong with
3:47
Speaker 1: the Bidens. There's nothing to see here, folks. And because
3:51
Speaker 1: they kept talking about it, it actually brings that to
3:55
Speaker 1: the forefront, right, And then today in their closing arguments
3:58
Speaker 1: they failed to address him. They just dismissed it. And
4:02
Speaker 1: it's it's it's like leading with your jaw um that
4:05
Speaker 1: that they're setting up to just get get get it
4:07
Speaker 1: knocked knocked crazy. Look, I'll say Schiff had some very
4:15
Speaker 1: good moments, but he also tends to get self righteous
4:19
Speaker 1: and and and so he'll be he'll be making an
4:23
Speaker 1: argument that's effective, that's real, and then he suddenly starts
4:27
Speaker 1: lecturing you. And I think the moment where that was
4:29
Speaker 1: most acute is when he cited this CBS story and
4:32
Speaker 1: said Trump was threatening if any Republican voted against him,
4:36
Speaker 1: to have their head on a Pike, and I got
4:38
Speaker 1: to tell you that pissed Republican senators off. I heard
4:43
Speaker 1: probably a half dozen senators surround me like openly, like
4:47
Speaker 1: gasp and and and like express anger. And that's a
4:52
Speaker 1: great argument if you're talking to a you know, a
4:55
Speaker 1: bunch of you know, left wing activists at a California
4:58
Speaker 1: rally and Shift's base. But it ain't a good argument
5:01
Speaker 1: if you're trying to get some Republican votes, right, if
5:03
Speaker 1: you're actually trying to persuade the few Republicans who maybe
5:06
Speaker 1: you could persuade, not a good way to do it.
5:09
Speaker 1: You bring up the reaction among the Republican senators today.
5:12
Speaker 1: Have you wandering around the holes of the Senate heard
5:16
Speaker 1: any gossip from the Democratic side. I mean, what is
5:19
Speaker 1: the reaction, if anything, at all to how they're doing well?
5:23
Speaker 1: It was interesting one of the Democratic senators was talking
5:26
Speaker 1: to a reporter walking out, and the reporter asked, what
5:29
Speaker 1: do you think of the closing and the head on
5:31
Speaker 1: the pikeline and the comment from the Democratic senators? Look,
5:36
Speaker 1: every argument has a discordant note or too. I mean
5:41
Speaker 1: it may not have come across on TV, but he
5:44
Speaker 1: was almost booed for saying that right. I mean, Republican
5:48
Speaker 1: senators were offended by it. But in many ways, his
5:52
Speaker 1: audience for that was not the hundred people in the room.
5:55
Speaker 1: It was TV that have to render a verdict. It
5:57
Speaker 1: was TV. And I'll tell you a very interesting observation.
6:00
Speaker 1: So why did they fill twenty four hours? Why did
6:02
Speaker 1: they repeat the same arguments over and over and over again,
6:05
Speaker 1: Because for most of the argument they weren't talking to
6:09
Speaker 1: the hundred senators that will vote on impeachment. They were
6:11
Speaker 1: talking to three hundred and thirty million Americans. And you know,
6:14
Speaker 1: one of the fascinating things that several senators noticed, if
6:18
Speaker 1: you look at their order of speaking, it followed prime
6:22
Speaker 1: time depending on where the house manager was from. In
6:25
Speaker 1: other words, they started off with the East coast house managers.
6:29
Speaker 1: They then moved to the central So you looked at,
6:31
Speaker 1: you know, the congressman from Colorado. They'd put them on
6:33
Speaker 1: in primetime in Colorado, and it would always close with
6:37
Speaker 1: the West coast, and they were they were very deliberately.
6:40
Speaker 1: More than a couple of people observed that this was
6:44
Speaker 1: at least more than a little bit about about Adam
6:48
Speaker 1: Schiff launching either his governor candidacy or his Senate candidacy.
6:52
Speaker 1: And look, this stuff I'm sure plays very well in
6:54
Speaker 1: a California Democratic prime. So that to me raises the
6:57
Speaker 1: question have the House Democrats give up on actually persuading
7:01
Speaker 1: the senators? I mean, are they are they now tuning
7:04
Speaker 1: out the senators and just playing this to TV to
7:06
Speaker 1: launch their own political careers. So yes, and no, ninety
7:10
Speaker 1: percent plus was launching their political careers, was energizing their base,
7:15
Speaker 1: was speaking to the angry mob. There was a ten
7:18
Speaker 1: percent in the closing where Schiff was trying to throw
7:22
Speaker 1: a hail Mary. Look, he knows that they don't have
7:25
Speaker 1: the votes, he knows that they haven't proven their case.
7:28
Speaker 1: But their hope now as they want more witnesses because
7:31
Speaker 1: they want to go in a fishing expedition, right, and
7:33
Speaker 1: so you know, for example, he had some actually pretty
7:37
Speaker 1: moving oratory about moral courage and standing up and how
7:41
Speaker 1: it's harder to stand against your party, and he said,
7:45
Speaker 1: you risk being called. You risk people saying he's a
7:50
Speaker 1: Democrat in name only or she's a Republican in name only.
7:55
Speaker 1: I don't think the choice of pronoun was accidental. No,
7:58
Speaker 1: he might be referring specifically to some senators well, and
8:03
Speaker 1: it was now I will confess. As I was walking out,
8:06
Speaker 1: there was a group of reporters and I said to him,
8:09
Speaker 1: I said, wow, shifts call for moral courage to stand
8:16
Speaker 1: up against your party was powerful, and I really wonder
8:18
Speaker 1: how many Democrats are going to do that and vote
8:20
Speaker 1: to a quit the president. And of course the reporters
8:23
Speaker 1: look at you like no, no, no no, no. Moral courage
8:26
Speaker 1: is always Republicans abandoning of course their party. Of course,
8:29
Speaker 1: never Democrats doing it. Now, before we move on from
8:33
Speaker 1: their arguments, I do want to be clear. They spent
8:36
Speaker 1: most of the time talking about the first article of impeachment,
8:39
Speaker 1: which was abuse of power, and we've talked about that
8:42
Speaker 1: now in the last couple of episodes. The argument that
8:45
Speaker 1: Trump engaged in a quid pro quo and he withheld
8:48
Speaker 1: the military aid from Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine investigating
8:52
Speaker 1: his political rival Joe Biden, even though he didn't end
8:55
Speaker 1: up with withholding the aid and they didn't end up
8:57
Speaker 1: investigating Joe Biden. We talked about that on previous episode.
9:00
Speaker 1: The second article of impeachment is called obstruction of Congress.
9:05
Speaker 1: Half the reason I voted for the president is so
9:08
Speaker 1: that he would obstruct Congress. What does that even mean?
9:11
Speaker 1: How do you obstruct Congress? Look, they're basing it on
9:14
Speaker 1: a refusal to allow witnesses to testify, defying subpoenas, and
9:20
Speaker 1: refusing to produce documents. And you know, look, I will
9:25
Speaker 1: say where the Democrats were effective in making this case
9:28
Speaker 1: is the Trump administration didn't hand over documents from any
9:33
Speaker 1: of the cabinet agencies in response to subpoenas. I got
9:36
Speaker 1: to say, most of the Republican senators, I think that
9:40
Speaker 1: was pretty dumb that the administration would have been better
9:43
Speaker 1: off complying, producing some documents in response, and preserving the
9:50
Speaker 1: fights for the things that really matter. And part of
9:52
Speaker 1: the obstruction charge that the Democrats waged against the President
9:56
Speaker 1: is that he wouldn't allow certain people who worked for him,
9:59
Speaker 1: such as John Bolton, the National Security Advisor, to testify.
10:03
Speaker 1: Are you saying should should they have testified? Well, and
10:07
Speaker 1: that's where this argument collapses, and it's why the Democrats
10:10
Speaker 1: are not going to prevail on it, because, look, front
10:13
Speaker 1: and center, John Bolton is the most notable example. They're like,
10:16
Speaker 1: we need John Bolton's testimony. Well, we talked about earlier
10:19
Speaker 1: this week in one of these podcasts how John Bolton
10:22
Speaker 1: did something something very clever. He went to a federal
10:26
Speaker 1: district court in DC and he went before the court
10:30
Speaker 1: and he said, look, I've got two conflicting demands on me.
10:33
Speaker 1: The House is asking me to testify, and the President
10:37
Speaker 1: is instructing me not to citing executive privilege. And he said,
10:40
Speaker 1: which one do I comply with? And John Bolton said, Judge,
10:43
Speaker 1: I'll do whatever you tell me. Right. The House Democrat's
10:47
Speaker 1: response was fascinating. They just said never mind. They actually
10:52
Speaker 1: informed the court we're not going to subpoena John Bolton
10:56
Speaker 1: and we don't need his testimony. So the fact that
10:58
Speaker 1: John Bolton does not end up testifying during the House
11:02
Speaker 1: impeachment investigation is on the House Democrats. And in fact,
11:07
Speaker 1: Bolton's lawyer said, if they withdraw the subpoena, the choice
11:12
Speaker 1: for John Bolton not to testify is not John Bolton's,
11:16
Speaker 1: it's the House Democrats. Why is that? I mean, why
11:18
Speaker 1: would the House withdraw their their pull to get them
11:22
Speaker 1: to testify, because I think they were in hurry. They
11:26
Speaker 1: did this whole thing, and they just wanted them forty
11:28
Speaker 1: some odd days. They were moving rocket fast, you know.
11:33
Speaker 1: Part of it. I think there are a number of us.
11:35
Speaker 1: I mean, we were speculating the other night. Why did
11:38
Speaker 1: they not drag this out and delay it more? I
11:42
Speaker 1: think part of it is that Nancy Pelosi at least
11:44
Speaker 1: thinks this is a political allusion. Tachment is hurting the Democrats'
11:51
Speaker 1: chances in twenty twenties, so I think she wanted to
11:53
Speaker 1: get this over with now. House managers have different interests.
11:57
Speaker 1: I think they're enjoying the national chef has his eyes
12:03
Speaker 1: on other offices. You know, I will confess I did
12:06
Speaker 1: ask in the Republican cloak room. I said, hey, what
12:08
Speaker 1: do y'all think of us having emotion? To give him
12:10
Speaker 1: another twenty four hours to keep talking? Just let everyone
12:13
Speaker 1: else's numbers go up. So, all right, the arguments are over.
12:15
Speaker 1: I do want to move on to the March for Life. Yeah.
12:19
Speaker 1: Before we do that, though, if you had to give
12:22
Speaker 1: the Democrats a grade, They've made their arguments. You've argued
12:25
Speaker 1: many high profile cases. How did they do on presentation
12:33
Speaker 1: and style, I'd say an A minus that they actually did.
12:38
Speaker 1: This was a talented group presenting okay on substance a D. Yeah,
12:46
Speaker 1: they sounded good and they have little snippets, but but
12:49
Speaker 1: they also were very selective in terms of what they cited.
12:52
Speaker 1: I expect to see I expect to see the president's
12:56
Speaker 1: lawyers come back hard. I expect to see the president's lawyers,
13:00
Speaker 1: in particular to make a powerful case about the evidence
13:06
Speaker 1: of corruption that justified an investigation into Barisma and weather.
13:12
Speaker 1: Vice President Joe Biden was part of that corruption, and
13:16
Speaker 1: the House managers have now built their whole case on
13:18
Speaker 1: the proposition. There's zero evidence that proposition is going to
13:22
Speaker 1: be blown out of the water, So I guess we'll
13:24
Speaker 1: see tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a really big
13:26
Speaker 1: day because finally the Trump team gets to make their arguments.
13:28
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, after going through all these
13:30
Speaker 1: hours and hours of the Democrat case, I'm glad you
13:33
Speaker 1: gave me this recommendation to have a nice, delicious glass
13:36
Speaker 1: of milk, because it's really fortified. Well, there's nothing like
13:40
Speaker 1: a cool glass of milk. There is a strange rule
13:44
Speaker 1: in the Senate that goes around impeachment trials. You are
13:47
Speaker 1: not allowed as a senator to bring in a cup
13:49
Speaker 1: of coffee or a bottle of whiskey or a soft drink.
13:53
Speaker 1: You are only allowed to drink two things in the
13:56
Speaker 1: Senate during the impeachment trial, water and milk. You have
14:01
Speaker 1: availed yourself of this, I noticed I have, and you look.
14:04
Speaker 1: The Senate is a strange place. It is a plate
14:06
Speaker 1: in many respects. It is governed by tradition. But the
14:09
Speaker 1: reason you can drink milk all stems back to January
14:13
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, nineteen sixty six, so before you and I
14:17
Speaker 1: were born. Okay. Senator Everett Dirkson is on the Senate
14:21
Speaker 1: floor and he raises a question with the presiding officer.
14:27
Speaker 1: He asks, He says, is it in violation of the
14:29
Speaker 1: Senate rules if the Senator from Illinois asks one of
14:33
Speaker 1: the page boys to go to the restaurant and bring
14:36
Speaker 1: him a glass of milk? If it is in violation
14:39
Speaker 1: of the rules, I will forget it. And the presiding
14:42
Speaker 1: officer answered, there is nothing in the rules to prohibit
14:45
Speaker 1: the senator from requesting a glass of milk. When that
14:49
Speaker 1: exchange happened, that formed a precedent. This is actually a
14:53
Speaker 1: governing precedent. So when you're a newly elected senator, you
14:56
Speaker 1: get in your desk, in the drawer of your desk,
14:59
Speaker 1: you get something called Riddicks precedence. And it is printed
15:02
Speaker 1: that Riddick's precedent stating going back to January twenty fourth,
15:05
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, Riddicks precedents. Just just to Clifford, this
15:08
Speaker 1: is like the rules of the it is, but it's
15:12
Speaker 1: just rulings from the chair become binding precedent because Everett
15:16
Speaker 1: Dirkson wanted a glass of milk, and the presiding officers
15:18
Speaker 1: said said, yes, now the two things you can drink
15:21
Speaker 1: or water and milk. And so the first night of
15:24
Speaker 1: the impeachment tribe and we went till two in the morning.
15:27
Speaker 1: At midnight, I decided, you know what, I'm gonna try
15:30
Speaker 1: this out. So I went to the cloakroom. I said, Hey,
15:32
Speaker 1: does anyone here actually have milk? And they're like, no,
15:34
Speaker 1: no one, no one ever orders it. I'm like, can
15:36
Speaker 1: we track some down? And one of the guys in
15:38
Speaker 1: the cloak room said, I'll find you some and it
15:40
Speaker 1: ran out. So at midnight I just sat there quietly
15:43
Speaker 1: sipping milk, and and it was you can't have coffee,
15:46
Speaker 1: you can't. You can't have doctor pepper, you can't have caffeine,
15:50
Speaker 1: but but you can enjoy glass of milk. Now, what
15:52
Speaker 1: I want to know, Senator as a taxpayer myself, who
15:56
Speaker 1: paid for that glass of milk that you had in
15:59
Speaker 1: the Senate. I'll tell you the cloak room actually called
16:01
Speaker 1: our office and said we need to charge the senator
16:04
Speaker 1: from the glass of milk. We ain't paying for it.
16:06
Speaker 1: And I laughed and said, look, I'm glad to hear
16:08
Speaker 1: some fiscally conservative policies being implemented. And now I can't
16:15
Speaker 1: necessarily promise. So look, if milk is allowed at the
16:18
Speaker 1: end of the day, all you see is it's a
16:19
Speaker 1: white liquid. So I can't promise you that there aren't
16:23
Speaker 1: senators having white Russians, especially the longer this drags on.
16:27
Speaker 1: And you know what, that would probably drive the conspiracy
16:31
Speaker 1: theorist crazy, particularly Postmonarch. That's true. And you know we've
16:36
Speaker 1: been coming here in the middle of the night now
16:37
Speaker 1: all week, so there's really nothing to say that we
16:39
Speaker 1: haven't had a couple of white Russians on the very
16:42
Speaker 1: same drink. Now, speaking of your health and refreshing yourself today,
16:49
Speaker 1: when you had a little bit of a break, you
16:52
Speaker 1: decided to use that by going outside and actually marching
16:55
Speaker 1: in the March for life. This was forty seven years
16:59
Speaker 1: after Rover. This way the March for Life has gone
17:01
Speaker 1: on every single year since then, and it's it's the
17:04
Speaker 1: largest pro life gathering in the world. And you participated
17:06
Speaker 1: in it today. It's something I've done a number of years.
17:09
Speaker 1: Today it was going on right during the impeachment trial,
17:13
Speaker 1: so when the march started, I couldn't participate, but but
17:16
Speaker 1: around three o'clock we had a break that ended up
17:19
Speaker 1: being about a half hour, and so I just went
17:20
Speaker 1: outside and joined the marchers. It's a wonderful chance. I
17:24
Speaker 1: spent a lot of the time. They're just thanking people
17:26
Speaker 1: and and and thanking them for coming out. It's usually
17:29
Speaker 1: a cold day when the march happens, and it's amazing
17:33
Speaker 1: to see people from all over the country coming together
17:37
Speaker 1: and stand up for life. I got to say it.
17:39
Speaker 1: It is always wonderful to participate, but it but it
17:43
Speaker 1: was particularly affirming in the middle of all this craziness.
17:46
Speaker 1: It was moving. I was there myself today. It was
17:49
Speaker 1: very moving, and it actually got me thinking about the
17:51
Speaker 1: relation between ROV. Wade and this impeachment trial because Rov.
17:57
Speaker 1: Wade is decided in nineteen seventy three, and it was
18:00
Speaker 1: when the Supreme Court discovered this previously undiscovered constitutional right
18:05
Speaker 1: to abortion, as though the framers of our constitution secretly
18:10
Speaker 1: invisible Ink wrote in a right to an abortion, you
18:16
Speaker 1: know a lot more about the Constitution than I do.
18:18
Speaker 1: It's a bogus argument, right, it was. The Court created
18:22
Speaker 1: it in versus Wade. But the effect it had in
18:26
Speaker 1: our country is it took one of the most deeply personal,
18:31
Speaker 1: emotional public policy issues and the Supreme Court said, you, idiot,
18:37
Speaker 1: voters don't get to decide this. We're deciding it for you,
18:41
Speaker 1: and you have no say. Look. Prior to that, abortion
18:44
Speaker 1: had been a question for the states to consider, and
18:47
Speaker 1: people could debate it at state state issues. You could
18:50
Speaker 1: get up and make arguments as to why. Look, you
18:53
Speaker 1: and I both believe that life should be protected. But
18:58
Speaker 1: as voters, we ought to be able to make those decisions.
19:01
Speaker 1: And the Supreme Court said, nope, we're seizing this. And
19:05
Speaker 1: I think that decision has produced a lot of the
19:09
Speaker 1: bitterness the rank or the division. People are frustrated on
19:12
Speaker 1: both sides of that aisle that they don't have a
19:14
Speaker 1: natural outlet to debate the issues because it all becomes
19:19
Speaker 1: the battle for the courts, because it's now nine elected
19:22
Speaker 1: judges that decide everything. Because This was in twenty sixteen,
19:26
Speaker 1: probably the top issue especially and by the way, I
19:29
Speaker 1: think I said nine elected judges, Let me be very clear,
19:31
Speaker 1: nine unelected unelected, because unelected is the whole problem, no
19:36
Speaker 1: accountability whatsoever. In twenty sixteen, the big issue was the judges.
19:40
Speaker 1: Who's going to replace Justice Scalia? Who? And you saw
19:44
Speaker 1: on the left and the right, and especially for the left,
19:47
Speaker 1: so much of that comes down to Roe v. Wait.
19:49
Speaker 1: I mean, you see it in their campaign materials. Let
19:51
Speaker 1: me make two observations from today. One, when I went
19:54
Speaker 1: out to march in the protest, I encountered one anti
19:59
Speaker 1: Trump protester, a woman who was angry, and part of
20:02
Speaker 1: what she was screaming is why aren't you in the trial.
20:04
Speaker 1: It's like, well, we're on a break. Um, I just
20:07
Speaker 1: had my glass of milk and I've got a lot
20:08
Speaker 1: of energy. But it was a striking contrast one anti
20:12
Speaker 1: Trump protesters and then tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands
20:17
Speaker 1: of protesters, or not protesters, but marks standing for life.
20:23
Speaker 1: And the contrast was interesting and it actually made me think,
20:27
Speaker 1: so a lot of us getting ready for the impeachment trial,
20:30
Speaker 1: we're anticipating bitter, nasty, confrontations like we had during Brett
20:36
Speaker 1: Kavanaugh and Brett Cavanaugh. The left had paid protesters who yelled,
20:40
Speaker 1: who's stalked who? You know? One of them went to
20:42
Speaker 1: Susan Collins's home, and I mean, I mean it was
20:45
Speaker 1: nobody needs to be reminded because it was such a
20:47
Speaker 1: national story. But Brett Cavanaugh was the second Trump pick
20:50
Speaker 1: for the Supreme Courts. Wasn't even the first one, is
20:52
Speaker 1: the second one. But but it underscores just how bitter
20:55
Speaker 1: and divisive it is. I gotta tell you, the Capitol
20:57
Speaker 1: police were anticipating the we may see some of the same,
21:02
Speaker 1: you know, vigorously, you know, threatening, almost violent some of
21:06
Speaker 1: those confrontations on with Kavanaugh. I mean you had people
21:09
Speaker 1: getting in your face and screaming and bitter and angry.
21:13
Speaker 1: And it's interesting that even though Trump inspires strong emotions,
21:18
Speaker 1: the impeachment trial has seemed to be a snoozer from
21:21
Speaker 1: that totally, totally, I mean, frankly, That's why I think,
21:25
Speaker 1: I really think that's why this podcast is doing so
21:27
Speaker 1: well is people are not going to watch ten hours
21:30
Speaker 1: a day of impeachment. They want, I think they want
21:32
Speaker 1: to come here. You've done an excellent job giving us
21:34
Speaker 1: a behind the scenes view. Look that there were times
21:36
Speaker 1: when it when it felt like like like listening to
21:39
Speaker 1: a reading of Vogon poetry, which for the handful of
21:44
Speaker 1: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy geeks who are listening to this,
21:47
Speaker 1: you'll get what I'm saying, and everyone else is right
21:51
Speaker 1: and don't worry about it. Yeah that I think you're
21:55
Speaker 1: right now. And I just wonder if if a decision
21:58
Speaker 1: like ro versus Wade had not stolen this very important
22:03
Speaker 1: question from the legislature, from the citizens to decide for
22:06
Speaker 1: themselves and taken it into the arms of nine unelected
22:10
Speaker 1: lawyers wearing robes, if if maybe we wouldn't even see
22:14
Speaker 1: an impeachment like this, if if the presidential elections were
22:17
Speaker 1: not so incredibly tense and important. Well, and it's much
22:22
Speaker 1: the same you look at impeachment and the House Democrats argument.
22:26
Speaker 1: Their central argument is we can't trust the voters to
22:30
Speaker 1: make this decision. That they believe the voters got it
22:33
Speaker 1: wrong in twenty sixteen, and a lot of the Democrats,
22:36
Speaker 1: when they're being candid, they're worried if Trump is on
22:38
Speaker 1: the ballot in twenty twenty, he'll win again. And so
22:41
Speaker 1: they're trying to undo a democratic election, right, and and
22:45
Speaker 1: that that is a persistent problem of politicians wanting to
22:52
Speaker 1: force an agenda against the wishes of let the people. Well,
23:01
Speaker 1: fortunately the Trump team is going to get the chance
23:03
Speaker 1: tomorrow to make their arguments. I very much look forward
23:06
Speaker 1: to that. We're going to be covering it again. Please,
23:08
Speaker 1: thank you to everybody who has made this podcast the
23:11
Speaker 1: number three biggest podcast in the world. It's really terrific. Please,
23:14
Speaker 1: if you can subscribe, leave us a five star review
23:17
Speaker 1: before we go. Lightning round on the mail bag. All
23:19
Speaker 1: right from Tom. Will the whistleblower testify the impeachment trial?
23:24
Speaker 1: Probably not. I think it's more likely than not that
23:28
Speaker 1: next week will vote not to have additional witnesses. So
23:31
Speaker 1: not only will we not get the so called whistleblower,
23:34
Speaker 1: the guy who started this whole Ukraine business really started
23:37
Speaker 1: the whole impeachment. But then we wouldn't get Hunter Biden,
23:40
Speaker 1: we wouldn't go any fire were to order. Likely outcomes
23:42
Speaker 1: next week will vote on whether or not additional witnesses
23:45
Speaker 1: are needed beyond those have already testified. The House fifty
23:49
Speaker 1: one senators will decide. I think it is more likely
23:52
Speaker 1: than not fifty one senators will say we've heard enough,
23:55
Speaker 1: we're ready to decide, let's move to judgment, and the
23:58
Speaker 1: President gets acquitted. That may not happen. If all forty
24:01
Speaker 1: seven Democrats will vote for more witnesses, maybe four Republicans
24:05
Speaker 1: join them. If that happens, the second most likely outcome
24:09
Speaker 1: I think is fifty one senators say yes, we want
24:13
Speaker 1: more witnesses, the Democrats call John Bolton, the President calls
24:19
Speaker 1: Hunter Biden, and I think, and then it's a blood
24:22
Speaker 1: best but but but I think that the second most
24:25
Speaker 1: likely outcome is those two additional witnesses come in Bolton
24:28
Speaker 1: and Biden, and only those two. I would say that's
24:31
Speaker 1: the second most likely outcome. The third most likely outcome
24:35
Speaker 1: is you end up having several witnesses. That that that
24:38
Speaker 1: and I do think, and this is something I've been
24:40
Speaker 1: pitching to other Republicans, is the principle of reciprocity, that
24:44
Speaker 1: that we need to be fair, we need to give
24:45
Speaker 1: both sides. We can't be like the House and have
24:49
Speaker 1: it only on one side. And so I think I
24:53
Speaker 1: feel quite confident that's where the Republican conference is, that
24:57
Speaker 1: there's consensus, and I gotta say, by the way, yesterday
25:00
Speaker 1: in the press there were a bunch of stories that
25:02
Speaker 1: said Chuck Schumer has rejected the deal of Bolton for Biden,
25:06
Speaker 1: and I actually had today spent a while like laughing
25:09
Speaker 1: with reporters, going, well, that's all fine and good. Of course,
25:12
Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer doesn't want Hunter Biden to testify because the
25:15
Speaker 1: Democrats are trying to cover that up, right, But he
25:18
Speaker 1: doesn't have the votes if they go down the road
25:20
Speaker 1: to John Bolton. I guarantee you the other side, right,
25:24
Speaker 1: we're going to have the votes among Republicans to ensure
25:27
Speaker 1: that both sides are treated fans, So that will come
25:29
Speaker 1: down to four Republicans. Last question before we had added
25:33
Speaker 1: here from Marty with very specific punctuation, when is it
25:39
Speaker 1: our turn? Can't watch these clowns tomorrow morning ten am.
25:44
Speaker 1: Tomorrow morning ten am, and you will be right back
25:46
Speaker 1: here in this studio to break it down for us.
25:47
Speaker 1: I will now tomorrow is likely to be relatively short.
25:50
Speaker 1: I think it'll probably go from about ten to one,
25:53
Speaker 1: so we'll get you about three hours of opening arguments
25:56
Speaker 1: from the president's team. So we'll record this tomorrow afternoon
25:59
Speaker 1: and then will come back on Monday at one pm
26:02
Speaker 1: and we'll get another probably extended stretch of argument from
26:06
Speaker 1: the President's team. I'm looking forward to the first chance
26:09
Speaker 1: the president's cantaign has had to present his defense and
26:12
Speaker 1: to present. Look, what I've urged them to do is
26:14
Speaker 1: present the substantive evidence of innocence. Don't just just talk
26:19
Speaker 1: about process the whole time, but lay out the facts.
26:22
Speaker 1: Because on the facts, I think the President, well, I
26:25
Speaker 1: hope they take some messaging from this podcast, because I
26:28
Speaker 1: think when you lay out the facts, the case is
26:30
Speaker 1: pretty clear. And tomorrow we will see the President strike
26:33
Speaker 1: back and it should be a lot of fun. Well,
26:34
Speaker 1: you know the Barisma timeline that that we tweeted out
26:38
Speaker 1: yesterday and talked about yesterday on the show, iserox that
26:41
Speaker 1: and put it in the box of every single Republican senator,
26:43
Speaker 1: so every one of them has that right. I sure
26:45
Speaker 1: hope they read it, and I hope they listen to
26:47
Speaker 1: the show, and I hope you all will listen to
26:48
Speaker 1: the show. We will be back here tomorrow. I'm Michael Knowles.
26:51
Speaker 1: This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. This episode of Verdict
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