By Mike Huckabee
December 2, 2023
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BY MIKE HUCKABEE
Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Here are news stories from the past week, you won't want to miss.
Mike Huckabee
DAILY BIBLE VERSE
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4:5-6 KJV
Rest in Peace Justice O’Connor
As we were going to press yesterday morning, it was announced that retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has died at 93 of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory disease.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sandra-day-oconnor-former-supreme-court-justice-dead-93
She was appointed by President Reagan in 1981 and served until 2006, earning a reputation as a moderate conservative and often swing vote. Her writings were noted for their deep legal knowledge and attention to detail, and she was often described as one of the most powerful women in the world, due to some of the landmark decisions in which she was involved, including Bush v. Gore and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. She was also the first woman on the Supreme Court, in an era when Supreme Court nominees were expected to be able to define what a “woman” is.
Our condolences and prayers to her family. I’m sure more will be coming on this story soon.
Reinstated
A New York Appeal Court reinstated the gag order on former President Trump in the real estate fraud case that would have been thrown out of court after this week’s testimony if the judge weren’t a rank partisan. Trump’s attorneys called the ruling “a tragic day for the rule of law.”
https://www.westernjournal.com/tragic-day-rule-law-appeals-court-clamps-trump-reinstating-gag-order/
Pending another appeal, Trump is barred from publicly criticizing the court’s staff. But he is still allowed to tell us what he thinks of the judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought this nuisance case. As you can see at the link, he did so, and in no uncertain terms.
A Huck’s Hero
A big salute to today’s Huck’s Hero, Senator (and doctor) Rand Paul. He was attending a Senate lunch when Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst began choking on some food. Paul stepped up, administered the Heimlich Maneuver and saved her life.
It’s hardly the first time a Senator has grabbed a woman from behind, but it might be the first time that it was for a legitimate reason.
Related: In case you missed here, here’s a great interview I had last weekend with Sen. Paul on my TBN TV show.
Democrat Priorities Part 1:
A 95-year-old Korean War veteran and lifelong New Yorker blasted New York officials for kicking him and about 50 other seniors out of a senior living center so they could use it to house illegal aliens who swarmed in over Biden’s open border.
Democrat Priorities Part 2:
Washington, DC, officials spent $270,000 of taxpayer money repainting and refurbishing “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” where the mayor ordered “BLM” to be painted on the street as a figurative upraised finger to President Trump during the BLM riots.
Reminder: This is the same city that slashed funding for the police, creating a “war zone” where even members of Congress are being assaulted by criminals. So far in 2023, homicides in DC are up 34%, violent crime is up 40%, and carjackings are up 93%. But the paint on BLM Plaza never looked so fresh.
Rumor Mill
There’s a rumor that Donald Trump is considering a Republican he ran against in 2016 as his running mate. Here’s a hint: it’s not me!
https://www.westernjournal.com/trump-reportedly-considering-republican-ran-2016-vp/
Fun Read:
Kurt Schlichter on why one of the left’s favorite weapons – “shocking” polite society – no longer works.
Non-Babylon Bee Headline of the Day!
“UN Chief Guterres Backs Complete Fossil Fuel Phaseout Before Flying to Climate Meeting.”
Is it too much to hope he’s flying in a battery-powered airplane?
“Huckabee” Preview
Join me tonight for a brand new holiday episode of “Huckabee” on TBN! We've decked the hall for Christmas, and I’ll welcome some amazing guests. Dr. Yftach Gepner will tell the harrowing story of how he led his Israeli village’s security force in repelling the Hamas attackers on October 7th, saving many lives. Kristen Day of Democrats For Life Of America will talk about standing up for life in the Party of abortion. You’ll learn how America’s truckers are helping fight human trafficking. I’ll also have plenty of great entertainment for you, like the amazing illusions of award-winning magician Jordan Winton. And we’ll top it off with a visit and a special Christmas song from my friends Larry, Steve and Rudy, the Gatlin Brothers.
So curl up by the fire (or the gas heater, while you’re still allowed to have one) and join me tonight at 8 and 11 EST, 7 and 10 CST, and Sunday at 9 EST/8 CST on TBN. To find out how to watch TBN, from local cable and broadcast channels to streaming, visit https://www.huckabee.tv and click on “Channel Finder” on the top menu. You can stream previous episodes, highlights and online-only “Digital Exclusives,” including extended interviews, “In Case You Missed It” and “Facts of the Matter” segments, plus extra performances by our great musical and comedy guests and links to all their sites, at https://www.huckabee.tv. You can also find past shows, highlights and digital exclusives on YouTube and my Facebook page.
Here’s today’s link to continuously-updated news on the war in Israel from Fox News…
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/december-2-israel-hamas-war
The latest: With the ceasefire ending Friday, Israeli airstrikes are continuing in southern Gaza. PM Netanyahu has recalled a Mossad team sent to Qatar to negotiate another ceasefire with Hamas. In a statement, he said the talks were at an impasse and "the terrorist organization Hamas did not fulfill its part of the (first ceasefire) agreement, which included the release of all children and women according to a list that was forwarded to Hamas and approved by it."
Again, I’ll point out to all the braindead protesters accusing Israel of genocide that all that has to happen to prevent the harming of even one more Palestinian is for their terrorist heroes in Hamas to release their hostages, come out from hiding behind human shields, and surrender.
Trump’s J6 defense denied access to video depositions, which are...”gone”
To set the stage for this story, recall that in July, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the House Oversight Subcommittee for the House Administration committee, was informed by Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the mercifully-defunct J6 “Select” Kangaroo Kommittee, that they hadn’t bothered to archive the video of all those interviews and depositions they’d conducted behind closed doors. “The Select Committee was not obligated to archive all video records of transcribed interviews or depositions,” Thompson wrote, “Based on guidance from House authorities, the Select Committee determined that the written transcripts provided by nonpartisan, official court reporters, which the witnesses and Select Committee staff had the opportunity to review for errata, were the official, permanent records of transcribed interviews and depositions.”
In short, Thompson was giving notice to Loudermilk that the J6 Committee didn’t have to keep all those videos, which in any normal court proceeding would be considered evidence. But in truth, destruction of those records would be in violation of House rules and also of the resolution that created that committee, which stated that “the records of the Select Committee shall become the records of such committee or committees designated by the Speaker” --- that would be Loudermilk’s committee now that the GOP runs the House.
We’d sure like to know which of those unspecified “House authorities” advised Thompson he didn’t have to keep those particular records. What do you bet “they” were just Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff?
On Thursday evening, Loudermilk confirmed to JUST THE NEWS that he was told all the recordings --- videos of the testimony of roughly 1,000 witnesses --- are “gone.” Loudermilk told John Solomon that he thinks “they exist somewhere,” but his committee needs to find out where.
Before the J6 Committee wrapped up their work in December 2022, they were asked by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is running the J6 investigation into President Trump, to turn over all their investigative material, which is being treated as evidence in that case. It’s obvious, looking at the language of Smith’s 45-page indictment of Trump, that he took much of the language straight out of J6 Committee member Liz Cheney’s opening statement. So, is Smith bothered by this destruction of evidence by the J6 Committee? Is he hollering about obstruction of justice? Not a bit. In fact, he’s fine with it and doesn’t consider Trump entitled to see that evidence.
When Trump’s legal counsel filed a motion requesting the videos and other missing materials from the J6 Committee, Smith answered in October that this was just “an aimless fishing expedition.” Those tapes would be “superfluous,” Smith wrote, as the J6 Committee had “determined that the written transcripts provided by nonpartisan, official reporters, which the witnesses and the Select [J6} Committee staff had the opportunity to review for errata, were the official, permanent records of transcribed interviews and depositions.” Note that Smith was simply repeating the language the J6 Committee had used in denying Rep. Loudermilk.
In a totally unsurprising show of unity with the special counsel, DC District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who’s presiding in the case against Trump, said virtually the same thing. As we reported yesterday but without this larger context, she ruled that Trump’s request for more materials amounted to a “fishing expedition” and agreed with Smith that “the video recordings are categorically irrelevant at this time.”
Neither the judge nor the special counsel seems at all concerned that Trump’s defense has been denied access to this material. (Somehow Trump always seems uniquely positioned to have his rights denied.) Do you get the impression there just MIGHT have been something in that video testimony that Trump’s persecutors --- er, prosecutors --- don’t want him to have?
Practically speaking, Chutkan’s ruling means that it’s up to Trump’s attorneys to go through all the written transcripts and glean what they can about the original tone, body language and believability of the testimony of each witness. It’s ridiculous to put that responsibility on the defense. And what if there are mistakes or omissions in the transcript? There would be no way for the defense to know.
Also, as Julie Kelly reports, “it remains unclear whether all of the written depositions were turned over to Congress or Smith’s team...Of the nearly 1,000 witnesses who spoke on the record to investigators and committee members, [fewer] than 300 are available [publicly].”
Kelly says that Judge Chutkan should reverse her order and force Thompson to produce the videos. But Thompson has told Loudermilk that they are GONE. In a normal investigation --- as in, one that WASN’T focused on throwing President Trump in jail --- the special counsel would be looking into obstruction of justice on the part of the J6 Committee, for alleged destruction of evidence in the form of approximately 1,000 videos. But Trump doesn’t have the same rights that, say, Hunter Biden has, so unless something changes, his attorneys will just have to muddle through with whatever crumbs the committee deems to give them.
https://www.declassified.live/p/capital-crime-and-cover-up
And in an update, the story of these “lost” videos has taken a troubling turn. Do you recall “star” J6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson’s public testimony about Trump’s alleged volatile behavior in the presidential limo (“the Beast”)? This had been preceded by some closed-door testimony that Hutchinson has since been allowed to change in a 15-page “errata” sheet. As John Solomon reports, these changes range “from the mundane to significant revisions that add new information or clarification.”
Hutchinson’s public testimony about the “limo” incident was roundly disputed by Trump and other witnesses, including Secret Service personnel (I’ve been in that limo myself and found her claims ludicrous.) And did you know it was not in her original closed-door testimony? About three months after her public testimony, she submitted the errata pages to ADD the wild story she had originally not told. She put in other details as well. Changes were submitted over a period of time between February and September of 2022.
Hutchinson became a media sensation when she testified publicly about this. As Solomon reports, her story produced headlines such as “Trump ‘Lunged’ at Secret Service Agent Who Refused to Take Him to Capitol: Jan. 6 Hearing.” JUST THE NEWS found a number of important details that Hutchinson has changed, outlined in this must-read piece...
Legal experts such as Alan Dershowitz, Glenn Reynolds and Robert Charles (Clinton era) have looked at the pages of this very extensive “errata” sheet and found it highly unusual, as these are normally just to correct typos and technical errors. Dershowitz said, “These aren’t ‘corrections.’ They constitute entirely new testimony that should be subject to cross-examination.” We would add that essentially NONE of the testimony given to the J6 committee was properly cross-examined, considering the make-up of that committee.
So, with Hutchinson giving quite different accounts depending on when she was providing the information, is Trump’s defense team to be limited to just the transcripts of her testimony? As for Rep. Loudermilk, he wants to see the video: “I want to see what her body language is when she gave her original testimony. I want to see what her voice inflection is. Was she very confident in what she was saying at the time, but then later decided to change it? This is why it’s so important that we have those videotapes, and I believe that’s probably why we DON’T have them.”
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