Fox News contributor Karl Rove lamented Sunday that if Rudy Giuliani leads the defense of President Donald Trump’s removal from the Senate, there is a “strong likelihood” that the president will be convicted.
Over the weekend, Giuliani, who infamously called for a “combat trial” hours before the Capitol riot, told ABC News that he is part of the second team defending the president’s removal and will argue that Trump should not was able to incite a revolting crowd to attack the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the election of President-elect Joe Biden.
According to Giuliani, the defense team’s defense against the president will be to prove that Trump’s unfounded accusations of widespread electoral fraud – which have been rejected by dozens of courts – are really true.
“It simply came to our notice then [Trump] says election fraud, election fraud, or me, or anyone else, we are inciting violence; that those words are words of struggle because it is utterly false, “Giuliani said.” Well, if you can prove it to be true or at least true enough to be a legitimate point of view, they will no longer fight with words. “
During the Sunday broadcast of Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked anchor to Rove, a longtime Republican strategist who has criticized Trump’s “stolen” election rhetoric, if he believed there was a chance 17 Republicans would join Senate Democrats to condemn Trump and , potentially, prevent him from taking office.
With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell open to the idea of condemning the president for incitement, Rove said Giuliani’s defense strategy would cause many Republican lawmakers to board the impeachment train.
“Rudy Giuliani set a very bad course for the president in the morning papers when he suggested the argument would be, ‘Well, there could be no incitement because all the charges of widespread electoral fraud are true,'” Rove said. sigh. “Well, these charges and the so-called experts that the campaign has brought together to defend them have been rejected by more than 50 courts, with judges appointed by President Trump, President Obama, President Bush, President Clinton and I think even a whole Reagan justice. “
“If it’s Rudy Giuliani’s defense, there’s a high probability that more than 17 Republicans will do it, because essentially this argument is,‘ This was justified, the attack on the Capitol was justified, and the attempt to end the hearing in Congress on election certification because all of these charges are true. And, frankly, they are not “, he added.
Rove went on to say that Trump and his allies have had every opportunity to prove their baseless allegations in court and have failed to do so over and over again, reiterating that if Giuliani goes this route “it increases the likelihood that more than 17 Republicans vote conviction. “
While Giuliani has insisted he has been chosen to lead Trump’s defense and has been seen visiting the White House this weekend, Trump’s campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley has seemed to contradict the former mayor’s claims. of New York.
“President Trump has not yet decided which lawyer or firm will represent him for the shameful attack on our Constitution and our democracy, known as the ‘deception deception,'” the spokesman said Saturday night. Find out more”.