Ted Cruz reacts to the Democratic case against President Trump and the massive march for life that took place in honor of Roe v. Wade and the 47th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. He also talks about what he thinks of the Democrats' closing arguments.
00:03:20.720It's it's the biggest weakness of their entire case is it is that they have built their case on the proposition.
00:03:28.180There is zero evidence, none whatsoever of any corruption concerning Joe Biden, concerning his son, Hunter Biden, concerning Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company.
00:03:40.620It was paying Hunter Biden a million bucks a year.
00:03:42.980That's a straw man, because yesterday that the House Democrats in making their case, they kept saying there's nothing wrong with Burisma.
00:03:51.160There's nothing wrong with the Bidens.
00:03:52.640There's nothing, nothing to see here, folks.
00:03:54.980And because they kept talking about it, it actually brings that to the forefront.
00:03:59.940Right. And then today in their closing arguments, they failed to address it.
00:04:18.440Schiff had some very good moments, but he also tends to get self-righteous and pontificate statement of the year.
00:04:25.820And so he'll be he'll be making an argument that's effective, that's real.
00:04:29.960Well, and then he suddenly starts lecturing you.
00:04:32.420And I think the moment where that was most acute is when he cited the CBS story and said Trump was threatening if any Republican voted against him to have their head on a pike.
00:04:42.640And I got to tell you, that pissed Republican senators off.
00:04:46.580I heard probably a half dozen senators surround me like openly, like gasp and like express anger.
00:04:54.600And that's a great argument if you're talking to a, you know, a bunch of, you know, left wing activists at a California rally and shifts base.
00:05:04.420But it ain't a good argument if you're trying to get some Republican votes.
00:05:07.700Right. If you're actually trying to persuade the few Republicans who maybe you could persuade, not a good way to do it.
00:05:13.320You bring up the reaction among the Republican senators today.
00:05:16.620Have you, you know, wandering around the halls of the Senate, heard any gossip from the Democratic side?
00:05:22.740I mean, is what is the the reaction, if anything at all, to how they're doing?
00:05:27.760Well, it was interesting. One of the Democratic senators was talking to a reporter walking out and the reporter asked, what do you think of the closing?
00:05:34.860And the head on the pike line and the comment from the Democratic senator is, look, every argument has a discordant note or two.
00:05:43.380I mean, it may not have come across on TV, but he was almost booed for saying that.
00:05:51.260I mean, Republican senators were offended by it.
00:05:54.840But in many ways, his audience for that was not the hundred people in the room.
00:06:00.320It was TV that have to render a verdict. It was TV.
00:06:02.760And I'll tell you a very interesting observation.
00:06:05.020So why did they fill 24 hours? Why did they repeat the same arguments over and over and over again?
00:06:09.760Because for most of the argument, they weren't talking to the hundred senators that will vote on impeachment.
00:06:15.640They were talking to 330 million Americans.
00:06:18.600And, you know, one of the fascinating things that several senators noticed, if you look at their order of speaking, it followed prime time, depending on where the house manager was from.
00:06:29.700In other words, they started off with the East Coast House managers.
00:06:33.840They then moved to the central. So you looked at, you know, the congressman from Colorado.
00:06:37.520They put them on in prime time in Colorado and it would always close with the West Coast.
00:06:42.360And they were they were very deliberately more than a couple of people observed that this this was at least more than a little bit about about Adam Schiff launching either his governor candidacy or his Senate candidacy.
00:06:56.980And look, this stuff, I'm sure, plays very well in a California Democratic primary.
00:07:00.560So that, to me, raises the question, have the House Democrats given up on actually persuading the senators?
00:07:06.820I mean, are they are they now tuning out the senators and just playing this to TV to launch their own political careers?
00:07:12.400So, yes and no, 90 percent plus was launching their political careers, was energizing their base, was speaking to the angry mob.
00:07:22.020There was a 10 percent in the closing where Schiff was trying to throw a Hail Mary.
00:07:27.540Look, he knows that that they don't have the votes. He knows that they haven't proven their case.
00:07:31.640But their hope now is they want more witnesses because they want to go on a fishing expedition.
00:07:37.060Right. And so, you know, for example, he had some some actually pretty moving oratory about moral courage and standing up and how it's harder to stand against your party.
00:07:48.500And he said, you risk being called, you risk people saying he's a Democrat in name only or she's a Republican in name only.
00:07:59.860I don't think the choice of pronoun was accidental.
00:08:02.300No, he might be referring specifically to some senators.
00:08:06.440Well, and it was now I will confess, as I was walking out, there was a group of reporters and I said to him, I said, wow, Schiff's call to for moral courage to stand up against your party was powerful.
00:08:22.220And I really wonder how many Democrats are going to do that and vote to acquit the president.
00:08:26.760And of course, the reporters look at you like, no, no, no, no.
00:08:29.460Moral courage is always Republicans abandoning.
00:08:33.060Their party, of course, never Democrats doing.
00:08:35.220Now, before we we move on from their arguments, I do want to be clear.
00:08:40.080They spent most of the time talking about the first article of impeachment, which was abuse of power.
00:08:45.140And we've talked about that now on the last couple of episodes.
00:08:48.380The argument that Trump engaged in a quid pro quo and he withheld the military aid from Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine investigating his political rival, Joe Biden, even though he didn't end up withholding the aid and they didn't end up investigating Joe Biden.
00:09:02.740We talked about that on previous episodes.
00:09:04.360The second article of impeachment is called obstruction of Congress.
00:09:10.100Half the reason I voted for the president is so that he would obstruct Congress.
00:09:17.220Look, they're basing it on a refusal to to allow witnesses to testify, defying subpoenas and refusing to produce documents.
00:09:25.900And, you know, look, I will say where the Democrats were effective in making this case is is the Trump administration didn't hand over documents from any of the cabinet agencies in response to subpoenas.
00:09:40.140I got to say most of the Republican senators think that was pretty dumb, that the administration would have been better off complying, producing some documents in response and preserving the fights for the things that really matter.
00:09:56.300And part of the obstruction charge that the Democrats wage against the president is that he wouldn't allow certain people who worked for him, such as John Bolton, the national security adviser to testify.
00:10:07.440Are you saying should should they have testified?
00:10:10.300Well, and that's where this argument collapses, and it's why the Democrats are not going to prevail on it, because, look, front and center.
00:10:18.260John Bolton is the most notable example.
00:10:20.420They're like, we need John Bolton's testimony.
00:10:22.360Well, we talked about earlier this week in one of these podcasts how how John Bolton did something something very clever.
00:10:30.120He went to a federal district court in D.C. and he filed.
00:12:49.580They sounded good and they have little snippets, but but they also were very selective in terms of what they cited.
00:12:56.840I expect to see I expect to see the president's lawyers come back hard.
00:13:02.180I expect to see the president's lawyers in particular to to make a powerful case about the evidence of corruption that justified an investigation into Burisma and whether Vice President Joe Biden was part of that corruption.
00:13:20.740And the House managers have now built their whole case on the proposition.
00:13:24.020There's zero evidence that proposition is going to be blown out of the water.
00:13:29.340Tomorrow is going to be a really big day because finally the Trump team gets to make their arguments.
00:13:33.080I have to tell you, after going through all these hours and hours of the Democrat case, I'm glad you gave me this recommendation to have a nice, delicious glass of milk because it's really fortified.
00:13:43.300Well, there's nothing like a cool glass of milk.
00:13:46.240There is a strange rule in the Senate that goes around impeachment trials.
00:13:51.260You are not allowed as a senator to bring in a cup of coffee or a bottle of whiskey or a soft drink.
00:13:57.380You are only allowed to drink two things in the Senate during the impeachment trial, water and milk.
00:14:04.480You you have availed yourself of this.
00:14:13.760But the reason you can drink milk all stems back to January 24th, 1966.
00:14:19.580So before you and I were born, OK, Senator Everett Dirksen is on the Senate floor and he raises a question with the presiding officer.
00:14:30.720He asks, he says, is it in violation of the Senate rules if the senator from Illinois asked one of the page boys to go to the restaurant and bring him a glass of milk?
00:14:42.700If it is in violation of the rules, I will forget it.
00:14:45.760And the presiding officer answered, there is nothing in the rules to prohibit the senator from requesting a glass of milk.
00:14:52.580When that exchange happened, that formed a precedent.
00:14:56.660This is actually a governing precedent.
00:14:59.020So when you're a newly elected senator, you get in your desk, in the drawer of your desk, you get something called Riddick's precedence.
00:15:05.640And it is printed that Riddick's precedence, stating going back to January 24th, 1966.
00:15:11.220Riddick's precedence, just to clarify, this is like the rules of the.
00:15:15.220It is, but it's just rulings from the chair that become binding precedent because Everett Dirksen wanted a glass of milk and the presiding officer said, said yes.
00:15:24.480Now the two things you can drink are water and milk.
00:15:27.400And so the first night of the impeachment trial, we went till two in the morning at midnight.
00:15:32.140I decided, you know what, I'm going to try this out.
00:16:39.600And, you know, we've been coming here in the middle of the night now all week.
00:16:42.360So there's really nothing to say that we haven't had a couple white Russians on the very same drink.
00:16:47.440Now, speaking of your health and refreshing yourself, today, when you had a little bit of a break, you decided to use that by going outside and actually marching in the March for Life.
00:20:15.980One anti-Trump protesters, and then tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of protesters—or not protesters, but marchers standing for life.
00:20:27.820And the contrast was interesting, and it actually made me think.
00:20:30.920So a lot of us getting ready for the impeachment trial were anticipating bitter, nasty confrontations like we had during Brett Kavanaugh.
00:20:41.060And Brett Kavanaugh, the left, had paid protesters who yelled, who stalked, who—you know, one of them went to Susan Collins' home.
00:20:49.360And nobody needs to be reminded because it was such a national story, but Brett Kavanaugh was the second Trump pick for the Supreme Court.
00:20:56.080So it wasn't even the first one. It was the second one.
00:20:57.660But it underscores just how bitter and divisive it is.
00:21:01.080I've got to tell you, the Capitol Police were anticipating that we may see some of the same, you know, vigorously, you know, threatening, almost violent, some of those confrontations on—with Kavanaugh.
00:21:13.020I mean, you had people getting in your face and screaming and bitter and angry.
00:21:16.920And it's interesting that even though Trump inspires strong emotions, the impeachment trial has seemed to be a snoozer from that perspective.
00:21:26.980Totally. I mean, frankly, that's why I think—I really think that's why this podcast is doing so well, is people are not going to watch 10 hours a day of impeachment.
00:21:35.700They want—I think they want to come here. You've done an excellent job giving us a behind-the-scenes view.
00:21:39.580Look, there were times when it felt like listening to a reading of Vogue on poetry, which for the handful of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy geeks who are listening to this, you'll get what I'm saying, and everyone else just write it off and don't worry about it.
00:21:59.660And I just wonder if a decision like Roe v. Wade had not stolen this very important question from the legislature, from the citizens to decide for themselves, and taken it into the arms of nine unelected lawyers wearing robes, if maybe we wouldn't even see an impeachment like this, if the presidential elections were not so incredibly tense and important.
00:22:25.240Well, and it's much the same. You look at impeachment and the House Democrats' argument, their central argument is we can't trust the voters to make this decision.
00:22:36.100That they believe the voters got it wrong in 2016, and a lot of the Democrats, when they're being candid, they're worried if Trump is on the ballot in 2020, he'll win again.
00:22:45.400And so they're trying to undo a Democratic election.
00:23:24.040From Tom, will the whistleblower testify in the impeachment trial?
00:23:29.000Probably not. I think it's more likely than not that next week we'll vote not to have additional witnesses.
00:23:35.400So not only will we not get the so-called whistleblower, the guy who started this whole Ukraine business, really started the whole impeachment, but then we wouldn't get Hunter Biden.
00:23:44.760So if I were to order likely outcomes, next week we'll vote on whether or not additional witnesses are needed beyond those who have already testified in the House.
00:23:55.240I think it is more likely than not 51 senators will say, we've heard enough, we're ready to decide, let's move to judgment, and the president gets acquitted.
00:24:03.600That may not happen. All 47 Democrats will vote for more witnesses.
00:25:02.920And I got to say, by the way, yesterday in the press, there were a bunch of stories that said Chuck Schumer has rejected the deal of Bolton for Biden.
00:25:11.040And I actually had today spent a while like laughing with reporters going, well, that's all fine and good.
00:25:16.140Of course, Chuck Schumer doesn't want Hunter Biden to testify because the Democrats are trying to cover that up.
00:25:49.400And you will be right back here in this studio to break it down for us.
00:25:52.060I will. Now, tomorrow is likely to be relatively short.
00:25:55.040I think it'll probably go from about 10 to 1.
00:25:57.420So we'll get, you know, about three hours of opening arguments from the president's team.
00:26:01.480So we'll record this tomorrow afternoon and then we'll come back on Monday at 1 p.m.
00:26:07.280And we'll get another probably extended stretch of argument from the president's team.
00:26:11.780I'm looking forward to the first chance the president's legal team has had to present his defense and to present.
00:26:18.000Look, what I've urged them to do is present the substantive evidence of innocence.
00:26:22.700Don't just just talk about process the whole time, but lay out the facts, because on the facts, I think the president.
00:26:29.260Well, I hope they take some some messaging from this podcast, because I think when you lay out the facts, the case is pretty clear.
00:26:35.320And tomorrow we will see the president strike back and it should be a lot of fun.
00:26:38.640Well, you know, the Burisma timeline that we tweeted out yesterday and talked about yesterday on the show, I Xerox that and put it in the box of every single Republican senator.
00:26:57.460This episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz is being brought to you by Jobs, Freedom and Security Pack, a political action committee dedicated to supporting conservative causes, organizations and candidates across the country.
00:27:17.180In 2022, Jobs, Freedom and Security Pack plans to donate to conservative candidates running for Congress and help the Republican Party across the nation.