Michael van der Veen, one of former President Trump’s lawyers at the impeachment trial, went viral on Saturday after an interview with the CBS News streaming service called CBSN.
The lawyer, who had just won the case, was interviewed by Lana Zak, an anchor of the network, who he accused of trying to downplay Democratic impeachment managers who, he said, falsified the evidence during the trial.
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The interview seemed tense after Zak asked him about starting his defense by stating that there was no “uprising” in the Capitol, but then – in his final argument, “apparently admitted that there was, in fact, an uprising.” She said he used the floor during the discussion.
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Van der Veen replied and said he did not understand the case. He said he only used the word “insurrection” when he cited the prosecution documents.
“What happened at the Capitol on January 6 was absolutely horrible,” he said. “But what happened at Capitol during this trial was not far from that.”
He said Democratic impeachment managers failed to do their homework and – desperate to present a case – “falsified the evidence”.
Zak continued his response, clarifying to viewers that he was referring to allegations that impeachment managers tweeted the wrong date, selectively edited videos and added a blue checkmark to a Twitter account sent in as evidence. Zak’s supporters said she was doing her job as a journalist to inform the public what exactly van der Veen was referring to.
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But van der Veen interpreted his explanation as an attempt to downplay a serious allegation against prosecutors in the case. He asked her: are these claims “not enough for you?”
Zak told him that she is not a judge at the trial, but van der Veen linked the comment to prejudice in the media.
“It is not normal to treat a little bit of evidence,” he said.
She replied, “I didn’t say it was okay.”
“The media needs to start telling the right story in this country,” he said. “The media is trying to divide this country. You are thirsty for blood for ratings and, as such, you are asking questions now that they are already set to a de facto standard. I cannot believe you would ask me a question indicating that it is okay to deal with just a little bit of evidence. There are more things we found that they fixed, to be honest with you. “
He said the media should be examining the claim in a “direct and direct way”.
“Your coverage is so slanted … it has to stop,” he said.
A senior impeachment adviser said the inclusion of a fake blue checkmark in the tweets that were presented at the Senate trial was an accident. The tweets showed comments from Jennifer Lynn Lawrence, who was retweeted by Trump. The two tweets displayed included blue check marks next to Lawrence’s name. He also accused impeachment managers of altering the date in a tweet in an effort to link it to the deadly turmoil.
Van der Veen said that the media, in general, is playing an important role in dividing the country because it acts for an audience, and politicians work for these media for favorable coverage.
Van der Veen was praised by many conservatives on social media.
Zak was credited online for allowing van der Veen to discuss the matter. She also repeated that she did not attempt to make the Democratic case against Trump. Van der Veen was accused of unfairly mocking Zak and also of removing the microphone during the interview.
He said her question was biased and indicated that “it is okay to cheat”.
Sam Dorman of Fox News contributed to this report