Fox News contributor Karl Rove lamented on Sunday that if Rudy Giuliani leads President Donald Trump’s indictment in the Senate, there is a “high probability” that the president will be convicted.
This past weekend, Giuliani, who was notorious for a ‘trial by battle’ hours before the riot in the Capitol, told ABC News that he was in the president’s second defense team and that he would argue that Trump was a rioter. crowds would not incite the Capitol to overthrow Congress certifying the election of President-elect Joe Biden.
The prosecution’s defense of the president, according to Giuliani, is to prove that Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud – which have been rejected by dozens of courts – are in fact true.
‘They basically always claimed it [Trump] says voter fraud, voter fraud – whether I, or anyone else – incites us to violence; that these words are fighting words because they are completely untrue, ”Giuliani said. “Well, if you can prove that it’s true, or at least true enough, so that it’s a legitimate point of view, then they are no longer fighting words.”
During Sunday’s broadcast of Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace, anchor, asked Rove – a longtime Republican strategist who has criticized Trump’s “stolen” election rhetoric – whether he believes there is a chance 17 Republicans could join Senate Democrats over Trump condemn and possibly keep him from offices again.
While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly open to the idea of condemning the president for incitement, Rove said Giuliani’s defense strategy would make many GOP lawmakers jump aboard the accusation train.
“Rudy Giuliani indicated a very bad rate for the president in the morning papers when he suggested that the argument would be: ‘Well, there could be no incitement, because all the allegations of widespread voter fraud are true,’ ‘Rove sigh. ‘Well, the charges and the so-called experts who gathered the campaign to advocate them have been rejected by more than 50 courts, with judges led by President Trump, President Obama, President Bush, President Clinton, and I think even one Reagan judge appointed. “
‘If it’s the Rudy Giuliani defense, there’s a high probability that more than 17 Republicans will do it, because the argument is essentially:’ It was justified, the attack on the Capitol and the attempt to hold the congressional hearing on the ending certification of the election was justified because all these charges are true. “And honestly, it’s not,” he added.
Rove further said that Trump and his allies had the opportunity to prove their unfounded allegations in court and did not do so over and over, and reiterated that if Giuliani took this path, it would increase the likelihood that more than 17 Republicans will vote for conviction. ”
While Giuliani insisted he was being used to lead Trump’s defense and was seen in the White House over the weekend, Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley apparently contradicted the demands of the former New York mayor.
“President Trump has not yet determined which lawyer or law firm will represent him for the shameful attack on our Constitution and democracy, known as the ‘accusation gap’,” the spokesman tweeted on Saturday night. “We’ll keep you posted.”