Rep. Gohmert responds to accusation he was a tool of Russia

close

Video

Tucker: Neither article of impeachment accuses Trump of breaking a law

House holds vote on articles of impeachment.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," December 18, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Tucker Carlson: This is a Fox News alert, and of course, you know exactly what it's about. We're monitoring the imminent House impeachment vote on Capitol Hill tonight, as well as the president's rally in Michigan. Both happening this hour. The vice president is onstage to introduce the president and just said this, "What's happening in D.C. tonight is a disgrace." Right now, meanwhile, on the Hill, the final speakers wrapping up. We've got a lot to get to tonight. You'll hear from the president and get our analysis. But first, back to Capitol Hill.

Kevin McCarthy: In this time of great trial and tribulation, may God bless America. I yield back.

[applause]

Kevin McCarthy: Speaker, I yield back.

[applause]

Diana DeGette: Gentleman from California is recognized.

Tucker Carlson: Good evening. Welcome to "Tucker Carlson" tonight. You know what's happening. We are preparing for the final vote on impeachment. With us here on the set is Bret Baier, "Special Report." Bret, you've been engaged with this all day long. What's happening right now?

Bret Baier: Adam Schiff speaking. He's been speaking throughout the day. He is the 219th lawmaker to speak from both sides of the aisle, as this debate has on -- been ongoing about two articles of impeachment. In just a short time, they're going to come to the end, and they will call for a vote, at which point we expect all Republicans to vote against impeachment. We expect Justin Amash, the independent, by the which -- by the way, the independent who represents the district in which President Trump is speaking in Michigan tonight. He is expected to vote, "Yes." And we could have two Democrats vote against impeachment. At least, that's how it's lining up. You'll have the article of abuse of power, first, and then obstruction of Congress. And then, afterwards, the House managers, who will make the case to the Senate, will be announced.

Tucker Carlson: So, it's complicated. And without quoting from the articles, can you just roughly characterize them? What do they mean?

Bret Baier: Well, they're a little bit vague, as far as the case.

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Bret Baier: And the Republicans continue to say, "Where is the crime listed here?"

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Bret Baier: Abuse of power: Democrats argue that the president abused his power for personal gain by making that call and trying to get an investigation of Joe Biden. Obstruction of Congress is saying that he is preventing witnesses and documents from coming to Capitol Hill. It's not as strong as they promised when they started this --

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Bret Baier: -- whole deal.

Tucker Carlson: Bribery was going to be --

Bret Baier: Bribery.

Tucker Carlson: -- one of the counts.

Bret Baier: There was all kinds of talks. Obstruction of justice, not obstruction of Congress.

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Bret Baier: And, now, this is the case they're making. The real test here, Tucker, is what happens in the Senate and how this trial is set up. We now know it's going there. Chuck Schumer wants to hear more witnesses. And the interesting question is -- so, Democrats in the Senate don't believe the case has been made. They believe the House Democrats have not made the case. They want to hear more witnesses. House Democrats say it's open and shut, and that the House needs to vote for impeachment. So, it's going to come down to this this vote. The bottom line is tonight, President Trump, the 45th president, will be impeached by the House, only the third president in our history to be impeached.

Tucker Carlson: But, as you noted, it's a two-part process. I hope you'll stay there for --

Bret Baier: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: -- a second. We're going to dip back in. This, of course, is Adam Schiff of Burbank, California, summing up.

Adam Schiff: I know the party of Ronald Reagan used to. Why should we care about Ukraine? But of course, it's about more than Ukraine. It's about us. It's about our national security. Their fight is our fight. Their defense is our defense. When Russia remakes the map of Europe for the first time since World War II by dint of military force, and Ukraine fights back, it is our fight, too. And when the president sacrifices our interests, our national security, for his election, he is sacrificing our country for his personal gain. That is the gravamen of Article One.

[applause]

Article Two –

[applause]

-- Article Two charges the president of the United States with obstructing the Congress, with denying the Congress any witness, any document, by telling all of his administration people, "You will not appear. You will ignore a coequal branch of government." And what is the defense to this, for my colleagues, again, it is, "Why should we care?" He is the president of our party. Why should we care if he ignores this Congress? Well, I remind my friends that he will not be the last president. There will be another president. And you may be, one day, although you do not act like it, you may one day be in the majority. And you will want to hold a president accountable. And what will you say when that president says, "You are a paper tiger. You have no oversight. I can ignore your subpoenas." What will you say? What will you argue? Well, no, no. That was different.

Then -- then, we were in the minority. Then, it was a Republican president. Will that be your argument? Is that how little faith you have in our democracy and our Constitution? Is that how poorly you defend and uphold that Constitution? But finally, let me ask this question that overrides at all: Why should we care about any of this? And I will bring you to one conversation that came to light, because it's not the most important conversation, but in many ways, it is the most revealing. It took place on September 14th in Ukraine when Ambassador Volker sat down with Andriy Yermak, the top adviser to Zelensky. And he did what he should do. He supported the rule of law. And he said, 'You, President, you Andriy Yermak, should not investigate the last president, President Poroshenko, for political reasons. You should not engage in political investigations." And you know what Yermak said? "Oh, you mean, like you want us to do with the Bidens and the Clintons?" And in that abrupt, brutal retort, we see why we should care. Because what he was saying is, "You, America, have forgotten what it means to uphold the rule of law. You have forgotten what it means to say --

Tucker Carlson: Yeah, that's enough for that for right now. You can get more online if you're if you're interested. We're back with Bret Baier. I'm interested, Bret, in what happens next. So, we were told initially that this process had to be quick because the president was a threat to national security. That line has changed. Where are we now?

Bret Baier: Well, House Democrats have not really decided. There was some talk that Leader Hoyer wanted to talk about holding back the articles of impeachment, not sending them over to the Senate immediately. That would undercut the argument that it is really urgent that the president's a threat to national security --

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Bret Baier: -- as Speaker Pelosi said. So, now we really don't know. We assume it's going to go right to the Senate and there will be this effort by Republicans to move quickly. The question is whether the president wants to have a full trial with witnesses on his side. I don't know if he's going to want to listen to Adam Schiff and the House managers make the case again in the Senate. Will he urge witnesses? Republicans in the Senate are saying, "No, let us do this without any witnesses. You already have the votes. Let's make this happen." This split-scream is quite something. If you look at Michigan, you look at the House Floor, I mean, who knew that we'd be facing this this split-scream at this moment?

Tucker Carlson: So, you are you are, in my view, one of the one of the few news guys left in this country. So, I don't want to ask you to get into analysis, but you may have data for us on this. To what extent is this impeachment process penetrating in the rest of the country? Are people paying attention?

Bret Baier: All right. So, the polls are really split. In swing states, like Michigan, it's upside down against impeachment. Swing states across the board have seen a shift in the past couple of weeks.

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Bret Baier: The Gallup poll for the president's approval has gone up six points in the last two weeks.

Tucker Carlson: And do we think that's related to impeachment?

Bret Baier: Well, it could be related to getting things done. I mean, the --

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Bret Baier: -- legislative agenda is moving, actually, through Congress. And it may be a frustration with impeachment. All I know is that the -- if you go to these states and you ask people, "What is your biggest issue --

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Bret Baier: -- none of them are saying, "Impeachment."

Tucker Carlson: Yeah, the states that matter, you mean?

Bret Baier: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah. Interesting. I mean, that's got to be part of the bottom line. Bret Baier, thank you for that.

Bret Baier: All right, Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: Dana Perino is standing by, another person we go to first to make sense of a busy and confusing day. Dana, thanks a lot for joining us tonight.

Dana Perino: Happy to be here.

Tucker Carlson: What -- so, this is moving to the Senate, presumably, as Bret Baier just said, right after today. This is the last stop in the House. What do we expect is going to happen next? What do Democrats think is going to happen next?

Dana Perino: Well, just to point at something that Bret Baier said, that there was this flurry of activity sort of mid-afternoon, suggesting that there were some in the Democratic Party, some being pushed by some progressives on the left, suggesting that the articles of impeachment not be even sent over to the Senate. So, what that would mean is they'd vote, as they've just started to vote. They would vote on articles of impeachment, impeach the president, but not send it over to the Senate. So, then, the president wouldn't even have an opportunity to defend himself and he would not ever get the acquittal that we all know would happen in the Senate, okay? So, what I have just heard, though, is that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not for that option, that she wants to move this over to the Senate as in regular order. And I think that for a lot of Democrats, especially these freshman Democrats that are almost if you listen to them today, Tucker, resigned to their fate in 2020.

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Dana Perino: If you listen to them, they're like.

Tucker Carlson: It does --

Dana Perino: This is going to be tough, and we're probably going to lose.

Tucker Carlson: It does not sound that way. So, what we're watching just want to explain to our viewers, I'm sure they've figured this out already. We're watching a vote on the first article of impeachment, which is abuse of power. What exactly does that mean?

Dana Perino: Right.

Tucker Carlson: What is this article?

Dana Perino: So, I'll tell you what it does not mean. It means that remember, at the very beginning of all of this, the Democrats accused the president of asking for an inappropriate quid pro quo with Ukraine.

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Dana Perino: Quid pro quo is just not cutting it from the communications standpoint, so they changed it and said bribery. And then everybody was saying bribery for a while. And when you finally got to the articles of impeachment, they when they introduced them, they dropped the bribery piece. Bribery is something that people understand right you see it on law and order. You watch all these shows. Bribery you might have had it happen to you. Right. You understand that.

Tucker Carlson: Of course.

Dana Perino: Abuse of power. I have to say, if you look at some of the polls and you ask people, do you think that President Trump or any president abuses their power? Most American citizens would say yes, because that's kind of people we are. We think we'd like to be self-governed. We have a president, but we don't have to abuse their power. I think that's partly the reason they did it. Tucker was just from a communications standpoint, was the only thing that was going to be able to get them a semblance of being able to say, we have a cohesive unit. Last week you saw a lot of leadership in the Democratic side saying, gosh, you know, we could lose a lot of people. We could have a lot of Democrats vote against impeachment next week and I think that that was just scene setting.

Tucker Carlson: Yea I think you're right.

Dana Perino: Because that way tonight, they can say, look, we only lost two.

Tucker Carlson: So, I hope you won't mind staying there, Dana, and we'll be back to you in a minute.

Dana Perino: Yep I'll be here.

Tucker Carlson: We wanted to Chad Pergram who's on the Hill to explain any remaining questions about the pictures that we have up taking up at least half the screen here. What exactly are we looking at Chad? Thanks very much for coming on.

Chad Pergram: Surely. Well, this is the actual vote. The first article of impeachment dealing with abuse of power. Now, what happens when they start a vote series? Tucker, the vote is open for about 15 minutes on the clock but in reality, it runs about 20, 25. You try to get four hundred and 31 members that's the membership of the House right now. Try to get 431 people in the same room at the same time. And we expect this to pass. Now, the magic number to look for right now is two hundred and sixteen. That's because the House right now only has four hundred and thirteen members but if we go back to the votes, there were two votes in the House earlier today and there were only 225. Two hundred excuse me 425, 426 members voting.

So, the vote to actually impeach the president might be lower. That threshold might be 213 214, depending on how many people show up. So, we're looking right now. You know, you see the clock ticking down they're up to about 151 yays on this one independent is on the board. That's Justin Amash, the independent from Michigan here and I'm looking here on the board, one Democratic nay. We're not sure if that's Collin Peterson, a Democrat of Minnesota. President Trump carried his district by 31 points in 2016. He is the chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Or Jeff Van Drew that's the Democrat from New Jersey who says he's going to switch parties, but he has not switched parties yet and so at some point here, probably in about the next 20 minutes, we will have the official vote tally on the first article of impeachment, and then they will go on to the second article of impeachment, which is obstruction of Congress.

Tucker Carlson: Mr. Pergram, thank you very much for that summary.

Chad Pergram: Surely.

Tucker Carlson: You clarified it quite a bit. Jenna Ellis is a legal adviser to the Trump reelect and she joins us here on set. Will, this matter, Jenna, any I mean, know, we're sort of getting breathless about it I regret my personal role in hyping this story but I'm wondering, like the long view a year from now, is this a significant event?

Jenna Ellis: It's very significant, unfortunately, because this is setting such a bad precedent constitutionally and I want to be clear, for all of the Democrats who have been on the House floor today saying and claiming that the House has, quote unquote, sole power of impeachment so legitimizing what they're doing right now, that's not what the Constitution actually says, that they can impeach over absolutely anything. And no power given to any government branch is unlimited and can be exercised in absolutely any way possible. And so, for example, legislative power is given solely to Congress. Right but that doesn't mean that the House can legislate on absolutely anything.

Tucker Carlson: That absolutely right.

Jenna Ellis: Routinely the Supreme Court overturns the legislative measures as unconstitutional. So here this impeachment is fully unconstitutional because these two articles abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are nowhere defined as treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. They also have no legal or constitutional merit on face by any standard of law and any standard of proof that we recognize in American jurisprudence.

Tucker Carlson: You stay right there just for a moment Jenna. We want to go to Congressman Devin Nunes from California, who I think has to vote. So, we just want to get him in here quickly. You've been watching this all-day congressman, give us the latest from Capitol Hill, if you would.

Devin Nunes: Well, thank you and thanks for having me on. I described it on the floor tonight as this is how you make a coup attempt extremely boring because there are no crimes here there's nothing. I heard Don Young tonight he's the longest-serving member in Congress right now.

Tucker Carlson: Yep.

Devin Nunes: He said that he's participated in three impeachments he said this is the first fake impeachment he's been involved in. And I think that really sums it up.

Tucker Carlson: And it's really that the first party line impeachment in American history. I think I mean has there ever been an attempt like this that is purely partisan.

Devin Nunes: Well, it's not only that there hasn't been. Right. So that's obvious. But also, the way this was all orchestrated right. So, on the day after the Mueller flameout, you then have this whistleblower that comes forward, meets with Adam Schiff's staff. According to Adam Schiff, we still haven't got to the bottom of that. Clearly, the whistleblowers complaint didn't match what the actual phone call. We were told that we were going to meet this whistleblower we had to hear from the whistleblower and then all of a sudden, the whistleblower is gone. And anybody who attempts to get to the whistleblower is, you know, trying to do something nefarious. And then they turn this into something crazy, trying to accuse Republicans of denying that Russians actually do interfere in our elections and that we were somehow making up a conspiracy theory that the Democrats themselves were over in Ukraine and working with Ukrainians to get dirt on the Trump campaign when it's that's just those are just the facts. So, the idea that they would turn this into an impeachment coup is rather bizarre.

Tucker Carlson: I would say that's a that's an understatement but a great summary by you. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on tonight.

Devin Nunes: Thank you.

Tucker Carlson: We've got standing by our senior political analyst, a man who has seen quite a few impeachments while the three in living memory. Brit Hume joins us tonight no one living has seen an impeachment along, in effect, party lines. What's the effect of the country on that?

Brit Hume: Well, the striking thing to me, Tucker, is how little interest people are showing in this. The polls reflect that. I was I'm up in the woods in Pennsylvania this week and for Christmas and I had lunch today with some guys who live up here. They're smart guys, successful guys they're interested in politics and there was almost no discussion of this. This on the very day that the vote was going to be held and I think it's because it hasn't moved people and captured people's imagination. You know, you heard all this rhetoric today on the floor. I'm sure you heard. No and it was I mean, the founding fathers got a complete workout. Our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor were discussed and all these things. Some of it was quite eloquent. The problem is that the matter under consideration didn't match the rhetoric. I mean, we're talking about the temporary withholding of aid that was ultimately provided in exchange for an investigation that wasn't conducted. And while it was, I think, improper for the president to raise Joe Biden's name in that now famous conversation, it really didn't go anywhere. And people look at it and they just kind of, you know, not interested and of course, impeachment I think most people think of it as the most drastic available measure to be taken in the event of emergency. And we're hearing, Tucker, throughout the day about how our national security was compromised. Really? How exactly?

Tucker Carlson: Well, because we didn't where we may have delayed aid to Ukraine and that's obviously the linchpin of our national security. So, what do you think about this?

Brit Hume: Think about this, though, Tucker. The question of just on the question of Ukraine, the witnesses that that form the basis for this for this resolution from the administration who were critical of this action toward the Ukraine, agreed overall and in the end, this administration's policy toward Ukraine was stronger than the previous administrations. Which leaves you to wonder how exactly was our national security compromised? There you go.

Tucker Carlson: It's completely it's breathtakingly reckless when you put it that way. Thanks so much for that. Great to see you.

Brit Hume: Okay Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: Congressman Lee Zeldin of New York, Long Island, Suffolk County, I think mostly has been at the center of this debate for the last couple of weeks. He joins us tonight. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on. So, given that this isn't going to result in the removal of the president, and it seems pretty clear based on several weeks of polling data that it's hurting the Democrats. Why do you think they're doing this? Do you have a theory on that?

Rep. Lee Zeldin: Yeah, it's a payback to their activist base. There are people who are getting them -- these gavels in their hand -- that gavel that Adam Schiff holds, that Jerry Nadler holds, that Nancy Pelosi holds, they have because of this rabid activist base calling for the president's impeachment since he got elected since he was sworn into office. This is a payback to them. And now as far as conference politics go, Nancy Pelosi, her most important vote, any speaker, their most important vote is to vote to become speaker of the House.

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Rep. Lee Zeldin: She got rolled by the far left of her conference. And basically, what was the far left of the House Democratic Conference, it took over the Democratic conference to the point that you have all of these Democrats who are in districts Donald Trump won in 2016, all walking the plank together.

Tucker Carlson: That's right.

Rep. Lee Zeldin: And there's going to be hell to pay next November.

Tucker Carlson: No, it is a kind of Jonestown dynamic where they all know it's going to end badly, but they're doing it anyway. So, I'm interested in this and without getting boring about it -- but like the squad and the, you know, the dumb people like Kazuo Cortez or whatever, they're not that many of them relative to the rest of the caucus. Why do they have so much power exactly?

Rep. Lee Zeldin: Yeah. Now, in this particular case, you do have some of these freshmen you mentioned, these members of the squad. You also have people like Al Green and Maxine Waters and these other members who have been calling for the president's impeachment for a long time. There were several dozen members who went on the record instantly being in favor of impeachment. We're talking about two and a half years before any of what's being alleged here in this fact pattern. So, it's not just them.

And they go back to these very blue districts across America where maybe this is popular in their districts, but they're totally alienating the middle of America that would rather see -- for example, those Trump voters in those districts where those Democrats are there now? They send to these members to come to Washington, to work with the president, to work with Republicans on substantive issues, to help people. And instead, we've seen this total gridlock. Fortunately, this week we're seeing USMCA end up getting passed. It's almost like Pelosi realized that they can't send these freshmen home without something good, even though it's a win for the president. Most importantly, it's a win for the American worker. And she eventually did now, what she should have done at the beginning of the year.

Tucker Carlson: Meanwhile, the president scored a win on prescription drug prices this week. It's almost as if being an extremist makes you stupid. Just a theory. Congressman, great to see you tonight. Thank you so much.

Rep. Lee Zeldin: You as well, Tucker. Thank you.

Tucker Carlson: So, the president doesn't seem rattled by this. He seems nonplused, actually, and cheerful at times. He's holding a rally tonight, as we said, at the open in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the very district of Justin Amash, who as a libertarian, was a Republican, now he's an independent. The president, I think, has spoken for about 14 minutes, but devoted a total of only 45 seconds of that time to the question of impeachment, which you can't emphasize this enough, is under way. Look at the screen. That's what's happening. President, as we've said, 45 seconds on that. We roll the tape on it. Here's what he said.

[start video clip]

President Trump: I remember when I first started this beautiful trip, this beautiful journey, I just said to the first lady, "You're so lucky I took you on this fantastic journey." It's so much fun. They want to impeach you. They want to do worse than that. By the way --.

[booing].

By the way --

[booing].

By the way, it doesn't really feel like we're being impeached.

[cheering]

The country is doing better than ever before. We did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong. And we have tremendous support in the Republican Party like we've never had before. Nobody's ever had this kind of support.

[cheering].

[applause]

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: There's another 30 seconds on the clock, meaning about 28 seconds for now, the president will officially have been impeached, at least on the first count. And as you just heard him say, however, he doesn't really feel like it's happening. Dana Perino standing by, we're going back to her tonight. Dana, so you, you know, you ran a White House communications operation. This is obviously an intense moment for the people managing this White House's communications, meaning, I guess, just probably as President Trump -- he goes on the road and gives this -- they have the votes. There he is. There it is, right there. On the screen.

What do you think of what the president just said and of his demeanor tonight in the middle of this?

Dana Perino: It is very interesting. So, I would say the last three or four weeks have actually been perhaps the best of the Trump presidency from a messaging standpoint in terms of being very disciplined. They also have -- they're firing on all cylinders across all the different entities that could help them. So, they -- the campaign, the RNC, the White House, the Cabinet agencies, the members of Congress, they're not losing one Republican in all of this impeachment. The polls in the battleground states have improved for the president. Tomorrow on this very House floor, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, will bring up the new NAFTA, the U.S. USMCA, the trade bill, because she also wants to show her constituents that she can do both. And it is a strange juxtaposition. I don't know if the president in a rally like this where he can -- you know, tends to go off script and do lots of things. You know, he might come back to impeachment. But --.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah.

Dana Perino: If I were advising the White House, one of the things I would say is that I would take these four weeks and run and get this behind you. There's a lot that he wants to try to get done. And I think the Republicans are making a little bit of a mistake when they think that the election is going to be a walk in the park now because of impeachment. There's a lot of sort of --.

Tucker Carlson: Oh, of course.

Dana Perino: -- premature victory laps happening, but the president is in much better shape after impeachment than before, just as Bill Clinton was in 1999.

Tucker Carlson: No, I think that's right. But you're also right when you got Google and the government of China against you, it's going to be a slog no matter what. So, I just want -- since we're both in the media -- and you made such a great point that they didn't really -- I mean, Justin Amash changed parties, but they didn't lose any Republicans -- certainly no number of them. That's not what the press predicted going into this. You kept hearing people saying, you know, "Republicans will abandon him once they hear the evidence." I mean, that was firmly predicted again and again and again. Why do people in the analysis business keep getting it so wrong? It seems like that's a trend that's accelerating.

Dana Perino: It is -- I think partly it could be wishful thinking.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah?

Dana Perino: Okay. It's also perhaps just because they -- you know, talking amongst themselves. Brit Hume, as he was saying, was there at the diner today in Pennsylvania with people who are interested in politics. They've -- as you said, they're very successful. So presumably they've run businesses. Maybe now they're retired, and they care about the future of this country very much. But this is not on their minds because we also know that it's a foregone conclusion. We know what's going to happen in the Senate. I think when Will heard the congressman from Texas, who is retiring next year, former CIA agent has served his country. When he came out and said that he was not convinced on impeachment and he would be voting no, I think the wind really went out of the Democrats' sails on that.

And this is the first partisan impeachment. It's also the first it's happening in an election year. So, you didn't have this kind of thing where Bill Clinton was out on the road doing rallies during his impeachment because his two terms were about to be over. This is going to fuel the 2020 debate unlike anything we've seen before, which is saying something given how divisive our policies have been.

Tucker Carlson: No, it's such a good point. Dana Perino, thank you so much for that tonight. Appreciate it.

Dana Perino: [laughs].

Tucker Carlson: We going to go back to our senior political analyst, Brit Hume, and as we do, we want to play a piece of tape for you that we've pulled off the television set yesterday. So, as you know, if you were paying attention in the last 24 hours, the president wrote a letter to the speaker of the House complaining in pretty stringent terms about being impeached, which he says is a miscarriage of justice. It was an interesting letter, a long letter. Here's how it was covered on the other cable channels; it tells you a lot. Watch this.

[start video clip]

Don Lemon: What does this ranting letter say about President Trump's fitness for office on the eve of his impeachment?

Wajahat Ali: The audiences at home reads the letter as if Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi would actually have written that letter. Just have their voice in your heads. Read this like an authoritarian. It's as if an authoritarian wrote it.

David Gergen: I think right now it's going to go down as a, you know, letter from a two-bit dictator Banana Republic. It has that kind of quality to it.

Male Speaker: Some might kindly describe it as fiery. Others would call it at times unhinged.

Douglas Brinkley: That that letter that Donald Trump's sent today was whack a doodle. It was gibberish. It was ugly.

Don Lemon: Pelosi responded, calling the letter sick. I mean, what is it about strong, powerful women that really puts Trump over the edge?

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: [laughs] We never learned what was in the letter, Bret. We just know that it's whack a doodle. It's sick. It's the ramblings of a two-bit dictator. Aren't you supposed to transcend -- you've been the news business for long enough to know the answer. Shouldn't the preface to those comments be the letter itself, and shouldn't you tell us what's in it?

Brit Hume: Well, exactly. Exactly right, Tucker. And this this is typical, however. I had -- I heard a lot of the commentary about the letter before I actually read the letter.

Tucker Carlson: Well, exactly.

Brit Hume: I read it and it was pretty strong medicine, but there was nothing deranged or unhinged about it. And in fact, there were a number of quite valid points that were made in that letter. And look, there's -- make no mistake about this, Tucker. He's not mentioning it in his speech tonight, as you pointed out at that rally. But Trump does not like this one bit.

Tucker Carlson: No. Of course.

Brit Hume: And he thinks -- I'm sure that it's a stain on his reputation and it's a mark against his presidency and so on. But I have a hunch. When Dana was saying earlier, and she may be right, that this is going to carry over and give fuel to the election. I have a hunch that of all the impeachments that we've had, that this one will have the least, the smallest half, the shortest half-life. And I think -- and some -- on some level, Nancy Pelosi may have sensed this all along. And she wants to -- she wanted -- that's why she was in such a hurry.

Tucker Carlson: That's right.

Brit Hume: She wanted to get it over with so that the voters who might have been offended by it will have a chance to forget it. And she will have -- she and her party will have kept faith with the base that's so rabid against Trump, and they can move on from there. By the way, the votes are there now. I mean, it's not final. The vote's not final, but there's sufficient votes there to do it. So, he's -- his impeachment is now a matter of fact.

Tucker Carlson: Right. And that's not something, as you just noted, that he's happy about or will brag about. But you got to wonder if Democrats will brag about it, either. Brit Hume, great –

Brit Hume: Well, there you go.

Tucker Carlson: -- great to see you –

Brit Hume: Hey, you bet, Tucker. Thank you.

Tucker Carlson: Well, as you just heard moments ago, the president was impeached on Article One. Article Two voting starts in a minute. Over on the other channels, Jeff Zucker and his friends are hyperventilating. They want you to know that this is the Hindenburg of political stories, it's the most significant event in American governance since the Continental Congress. The president, apparently, does not agree. You saw him. He's in Battle Creek, Michigan, tonight. You didn't see him worried. He was holding a rally. We'll bring you more of what he said when we get it. Here in Washington, though, things have taken a distinctly hallucinogenic feel, like the entire staff of the Department of Reality has taken an all-inclusive cruise to Barbados and didn't come back. Everywhere you look, adults are behaving like children, drunk children. Hilarious absurdities now seem normal. Transparent lies pass as truth. Hunter Biden is now regarded as a world-class expert on natural gas and, by the way, on corporate governance. On television, people with advanced degrees have assured you, for a week, that giving weapons to Ukraine somehow guarantees national security. And of course, on CNN, they're telling you that the Democrats are despondent over all of this. They just hate impeaching the man they hate the most. They're all wearing black today. Why? Because they really mean it. No, it wasn't choreographed. These are people who haven't set foot in a church without a camera in 20 years and, yet, they are sincere in their sadness. In fact, CNN will tell you they're deeply prayerful about the whole impeachment process. They're incredibly solemn.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Dana Perino: But back to the notion of where we are and how the Democrats are feeling today. You can feel it in the air here. It feels different. It is palpable that this is momentous, that this is grave. And, again, it is, despite the Democrats talking points, not something that this Speaker wanted to do.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: [laughs] Did you just hear that? Imagine doing that. Imagine reading a political party's talking points, verbatim, every day of the year and pretending that it's news. That's what it's like to be an anchor over on CNN or, for that matter, an NBC employee. All week, Democrats have been telling you -- and if you've watched, you've heard this -- that they're on the side of the Constitution and the framers who wrote the Constitution. These are the same people, of course, who are trying to repeal the first and second amendments. But seriously, they tell you they love the founders. It's a tough argument to make. But guess who buys it completely and is happy to repeat it again and again, like a trained seal? If you guessed, "Chuck Todd of MSNBC," pour yourself another glass of rosé.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP] Chuck Todd:

You know, I think this is the real challenge with sort of dealing with this president is that I don't think he really even appreciates the Constitution, all right? I don't know if he has this reverence for it that most elected officials in Washington eventually do end up having a reverence for it. He doesn't seem to sort of understand the founding. I mean, I think one of the fairest criticisms of him, by historians, is that he doesn't seem to understand the story of America.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Oh, yeah. You hear that? Trump just doesn't understand the story of America? But you know who does understand the story of America really well? Alcee Hastings of Florida. He's a member of Congress. He was once a well-known judge. Then, he got impeached and removed from office for corruption, literally put on trial and convicted. Now, Democrats have installed the same man, Alcee Hastings, on the House Rules Committee, where he's an important moral voice in favor of -- brace yourself now -- impeaching the president who is orange, and bad, and must be removed. Because irony never dies in Washington. And because, as the party of sanctuary cities never tires of reminding you, "nobody is above the law."

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: Today, we have a president who seems to believe he is a king or above the law. [END VIDEO CLIP]

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Dana Perino: No one is above the law.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Dana Perino: No one is above the law.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: The president is not above the law.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Dana Perino: See, because no one is above the law.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: No one is above the law. [END VIDEO CLIP] [BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: -- and remind the world that, in America, no one is above the law. [END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: And, with that, Nancy Pelosi gavels in. And we're saying this in real time, live, right now, 8:35 p.m., the first count of impeachment is official. And Democrats are happy about that. We're going to give you the vote tally. Right now, we're going to dip in. Here it is.

Tucker Carlson: There you go. The first article of impeachment is in; its official. Chad Pergram is standing by on Capitol Hill to tell us what happens next. What do we look for now, Chad?

Chad Pergram: He just announced the outcome on the first article of impeachment. Again, that was abuse of power. The tally there was 230 to 197, with one member voting, "Present." That's Tulsi Gabbard, the Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii. There were two Democratic "No's," Jeff Van Drew, Democrat of New Jersey, for the moment. He's going to switch to the Republican Party probably later this week. And, also, Collin Peterson, a Democrat from western Minnesota. President Trump carried his district by 31 points. I should point out here that there were a total of 229 Democratic "yeas." Justin Amash, the independent congressman from Michigan, also voted, "Yes." And some historical context here, Tucker. In 1998, on the first article of impeachment with President Clinton, the vote there was 228 to 206. So, you know, kind of a similar vote tally here from what we had in 1998 with President Clinton.

Now it's on to the next order of business here. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, presiding. They're onto the second article of impeachment. This will be a shorter vote.

That first vote was open for so long because it takes a long time to get 431 members, in the current population of the House, into the same room here. This vote, right now, is scheduled for about five minutes. This is the article dealing with obstruction of Congress. And we're expecting this to be a fait accompli. What I don't see, however, in this vote series is a resolution, a vote on a later resolution tonight where they would actually send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. And what they would also do is announce who the impeachment managers are. These are going to be the prosecutors who would present the case to the Senate. And what they actually do, Tucker, is they walk those articles of impeachment over to the Senate. They put them in cherry boxes, wooden boxes, and walk them right through Statuary Hall of the Capitol right here from the House side, which is where we are, over to the Senate.

So, that, apparently, is not going to happen right now. You know, the thought is that, you know, the House could kind of have ball control here, and maybe hold onto this for a little bit, and say, "Wait a minute, Senate. We're not going to send you these articles until you set up how a Senate trial is going to be conducted, and that we as Democrats -- since we're in the majority in the House -- that we view, it's going to be fair. So, President Trump, to reiterate, has been impeached -- past tense -- on one article of impeachment. That was abuse of power. The second vote is under way. We should have a result here. There's two minutes and change on the clock. So, probably about three or four minutes, in reality. Timing on Capitol Hill, with Congress, is never Swiss. And then they will be done for the night. And we'll have some press conferences from both sides later tonight. Tucker, back to you.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah, I can't wait for those. I'll be asleep, gratefully. Chad Pergram, great to see you. So, you're well looking at the clock now. 151 remaining, and this is voting on article two. So, we're treating this like it's a momentous occasion. Maybe we're playing into the propaganda narrative a little bit. I'm not quite sure. Maybe I don't have perspective. Dana Perino does, though. So, she's, I think, still standing by. Are you there, Dana?

Dana Perino: I am here. I am here. Yeah, look, I think that one day is -- I realize that people, maybe, aren't, I mean, changing their minds. But we --

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Dana Perino: -- we've shown, even in our research and our ratings that, you know, people are watching --

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Dana Perino: -- they are learning. And I think President Trump is, from his perspective -- look, he's got the Republican Party behind him. His poll numbers look better. The Democrats are coming to the table on -- to help him pass the spending bills, which are a lot. We should talk about that someday. But, also, the trade bills. I mean, he's got some legislative accomplishments that he'll be able to go into the year with. On the second --

Tucker Carlson: But that's giving -- may I just say –

Dana Perino: [affirmative]

Tucker Carlson: -- that's exactly the frustration, actually. And we're going to –

Dana Perino: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: -- address it later in the show. But that there is so much going on in the world, and in this country, and even on Capitol Hill, the spending bill, $1.4 trillion spending bill that has all kinds of stuff -- very left-wing stuff in there, by the way -- that nobody is debating –

Dana Perino: Oh, yeah.

Tucker Carlson: -- or talking about. Some of it is actual lunacy. And because we're so absorbed with this impeachment nonsense, which really means nothing. So, like, are we being had? It kind of feels that way to me.

Dana Perino: Well, I think that voters are right. So. But as you said, all of these members now can go back and say, look what I did. Nobody really if you're going back to your district, there are very few people in your district that complain that you got extra money in the budget for their right.

Tucker Carlson: I know that's true.

Dana Perino: I mean, so nobody's really complaining about that. The fiscal hawks are hiding. I had one congressman text me and say, wow, this is a lot of spending and one of these days we're really going to have to get a handle on that. I was like, oh, really okay. Yeah so four years ago when you were running, you had a very different perspective. What changed? Look, the politics have changed. The economics have not and yet the president has changed the Republican Party in one very important way, and that is for working class Americans, blue collar workers.

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Dana Perino: Who now, if you believe that Axios focus group the other day said, we voted for Obama, then we voted for Trump and we are sticking with Trump because we believe in what he has done for us. So the president is leaving no vote unturned. Why is he in Michigan tonight? It's a critical state for him and he's also in Battle Creek, right. This is where Justin Amash, the congressman that was Republican, is now independent. He's the one that voted yay for impeachment. The president is going to go right into their face. And so, when I was saying earlier that I think that impeachment will fuel a lot of debate in 2020, I think that Bret Hume is absolutely right. I think the Democrats might want to drop it. I don't think President Trump will, and I don't think that his voters are going to forget it either. And don't forget the Democrats could do this again. Right. They could go back to the well on impeachment over and over again if they thought it was worth their while before 2020.

Tucker Carlson: You know Trump ascends 6 points in the polls in a week in the middle of impeachment. That's not a precedent I think that is going to encourage Democrats to try this again, though, right?

Dana Perino: No but how much you want to bet there's going to be a part of the party, as Congressman Zeldin was saying. What did he say, that Pelosi got rolled by the progressive left? Do you think that those people won't say he should be impeached for all the other things they've been saying, he should be impeached over and over again for lots of different things for the last three years?

Tucker Carlson: This is what happens if you turn over management of your party to Twitter, and I don't think it's a good way to run an executive...

Dana Perino: No. No one should turn anything over to Twitter.

Tucker Carlson: I totally agree.

Dana Perino: Ever.

Tucker Carlson: Dana Perino, thank you so much.

Dana Perino: Twitter is best for dog pictures really?

Tucker Carlson: Oh, at best. That's all it good for great to see you tonight. Thank you. So why is all of this happening? Well, the Democrats have told you for the last month there's one real reason at the bottom. Nobody is above the law and other caveats that, of course, no one is above the law except for anyone who might potentially vote Democrat, in which case laws are racist and must be ignored. That's you know that it’s pretty amusing. But here's something even funnier those articles of impeachment that we just saw passed on to uphold the law that nobody is above. Well, neither article that apparently have just been passed actually accuses the president of breaking a specific law. Huh. So why are we here? Why are we talking about this? Why have we devoted 43 minutes so far tonight to this topic? Why is the president being impeached? Well, ask Hakeem Jeffries, a member of Congress from New York as he'll tell you impeachment has a lot to do with and you never would have guessed this, by the way, has a lot to do with slavery. But you didn't see that coming. Watch Hakeem Jeffries explain.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Hakeem Jeffries: There are some who cynically argue that the impeachment of this president will further divide an already fractured union. But there is a difference between division and clarification. Slavery once divided the nation, but emancipators is rose up to clarify that all men are created equally. Suffrage once divided the nation but women rose up to clarify that all voices must be heard in our democracy. There is a difference between division and clarification.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Huh? Did you hear that? Did you understand it? No, because it was indecipherable, because it was dumb and insane and how do people like that get power in this country ridiculous people good question. This is democracy so it's important we ought to be meditating on it, but we're not because we're too mesmerized by the latest in a series of absurd farces brought to you in Washington, beginning with Russia. Then Stormy Daniels, now impeachment. If you're a cynical person, you might suspect that all of this was designed from the beginning to distract you from what's actually going on and what is actually going on. Well a lot is going on around the world and in this country. For example, one among many before it leaves town for Christmas the Congress will pass a 2,000 spending bill that Dana just referred to. It amounts to about one point four trillion dollars. What's, in that bill? Wouldn't you like to know? You were too busy watching impeachment to find out. We took a little time and checked.

Here's a selection, for example thousands of Liberians from Liberia living in this country will get a special pathway to citizenship. Why? How'd that happen? Don't ask it was never debated. You had no idea it was even happening this is your country. You didn't know and of course, that was the point. Or how about the war in Afghanistan going on now for 18 years. Just a few weeks ago, The Washington Post released a massive trove of documents that revealed that our leaders had been systematically lying to us about how the war is failing and has been for more than a decade. That should've been the scandal of the year. Instead, those documents were forgotten almost immediately. Why? Thanks to impeachment.

In fact, in this new spending bill, Congress just voted to keep the money flowing unimpeded to that failed war. Four billion dollars will go to the Afghan security forces. Really? It's like a joke. We know for dead certain that money will be wasted the second it gets there. The troops we hire will desert. Their weapons will wind up with the Taliban. If anything, the money that we send is more likely to be spent killing American forces than it is to be turning Afghanistan into Belgium or whatever the mission is. We've no idea, but we know it's not going to achieve that. But Congress is doing it anyway. Meanwhile, Congress is, in addition to all of that, still busily working to undermine your constitutional rights. The spending bill currently includes twenty-five million dollars to spend on, quote, gun violence research. And don't lie to yourself that's not social science. It's money that will go to ideologically motivated research with only one purpose giving a pretext to bureaucrats to reduce your Second Amendment rights.

Do you think that might bother Democrats because, as you know, they spent all week extolling the Constitution, how much they care about it, how they're representing the framers. Of course, they don't care what the Bill of Rights. If it's an obstacle to their power, they're against it. And that category includes both stubborn constitutional amendments like the first and second and sitting presidents. Congressman Al Green, by the way, basically said so today ahead of Congress just a few minutes ago, impeaching the president on both Articles 1 and 2 when Green called for the president's impeachment. He didn't mention high crimes and misdemeanors. No, he got right to the point he accused the president of disagreeing with his views on immigration. Watch this.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Al Green: In the name of democracy on behalf of the republic and for the sake of the many who are suffering, I will vote to impeach and I encourage my colleagues to do so as well.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: What does that have to do with Articles 1 and 2? What does it have to do with impeachment? If you're confused, you don't know how it works. So, here's a primer. Here's all you need to know. When you oppose the Democratic Party's immigration plans. What you're really doing is challenging their plan to accumulate more political power. And that, in the end, is the only impeachable offense in Washington. We head back to Capitol Hill right now, where Congressman Greg Steube of Florida joins us live. He's been there all day in the midst of the maelstrom. Congressman thanks so much for coming on. So, it looks like it's official, both counts. What do you make of this?

Greg Steube: Well, first of all, I make a point that not a single Republican broke ranks. You know, there is all this talk in the beginning by Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Schiff and Chairman Nadler that this had to be bipartisan. This had to be compelling and overwhelming to the American people and not a single step of this impeachment has been bipartisan and it's certainly not compelling or overwhelming. You hit on it you've got two articles of impeachment that aren't even mentioned in the Constitution as a basis for impeaching this president and it's a sad day for democracy in America.

Tucker Carlson: It's also kind of weird since, I mean, there are an awful lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill who don't like the president and certainly unfortunately a lot of them who work ceaselessly to undermine his agenda. So why couldn't Democrats peel away like 10 of them?

Greg Steube: Well, you've got and you've got three Republicans that sit in districts that Hillary Clinton won, and even they stood by the facts and the evidence that there wasn't an impeachable offense, that that occurred from the president of the United States.

Tucker Carlson: Huh. So, what's the effect? And this is I mean, this just happened. So, it's a lot to ask a question this broad but what's the effect on the country of this?

Greg Steube: Well, I think it's going to be a sad day for the country after today, because now every Congress, whoever is in power, is going to think that they can impeach the president for whatever they want. I mean, you made a good point of the statements they representative Green was making on the floor. This isn't about a constitutional basis for impeachment they don't agree with his immigration policy or they don't agree with what he's doing for the economy and how great the economy is going. They just want to impeach him because they don't agree with him. And it's a sad day that we're where we are today in America.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah, that's for sure. And not a good precedent. So much of what's happened the last three years, bad precedent, I would say for democracy. Congressman, thanks so much.

Greg Steube: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Tucker Carlson: Appreciate it. Tom Fitton runs Judicial Watch, as you well know, because he's a frequent guest on the show. He's been watching all of this, and he joins us tonight. What's the takeaway for you, Tom?

Tom Fitton: Well, it's a terrible day for the Constitution and the country. The president has been terribly abused. Our constitution is being attacked. And, you know, taking a step back, we have information that the United States government more or less was lying to us for three years about Russian collusion.

Tucker Carlson: And, by the way, about Afghanistan, and UFOs, and fill in the blanks, the food pyramid, I mean, do you know what I mean? Like all the things we're not talking about.

Tom Fitton: Right. But the lies were designed to put this man in jail.

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Tom Fitton: And he's been completely exonerated and vindicated. And he was started asking questions about what went on in Ukraine as it was related to that. And now the same gang that lied about him and tried to put him in jail illegally is now impeaching him for asking questions about it, and impeaching him for defending himself in response to their obsessive activities with regard to trying to get his people to testify --

Tucker Carlson: Obsessed is right. And look, I hate to digress, I'm throwing this at you cold. You'll be forgiven if you don't want to answer, but it's a sincere question. Why does Trump threaten these people so much? What -- cause this is irrational. It's hurting them. They're doing it anyway. They're clearly in some kind of psychological -- unhealthy state. But it stems from the fact that he threatens them, they look at him, and it's fight or flight. Why is that?

Tom Fitton: They see him as a revolutionary reformist figure on these issues that you have highlighted, on foreign policy, on the role of government in our lives, on the nostrums that we are all supposed to be falling down around --

Tucker Carlson: That's right.

Tom Fitton: -- here in Washington, D.C. "Oh, foreign aid. Let's all fall down and not any -- not ask questions about how it's spent." Having someone --.

Tucker Carlson: We've got to arm Ukraine.

Tom Fitton: That's right.

Tucker Carlson: Tom, we have to arm Ukraine.

Tom Fitton: Right.

Tucker Carlson: There's one thing -- you know, there's one thing Jefferson and Madison agreed on, arm Ukraine.

Tom Fitton: We had a FISA court yesterday say they can't believe the FBI on anything. And this man is being impeached for asking questions about that Party's, the Democratic Party's, potential political nominee, presidential nominee. This is what it's about. It's about protecting Joe Biden. It's about protecting themselves from the consequences of their criminal behavior. They're nervous that the DOJ has begun asking questions. And in many ways, this is a massive obstruction of justice.

And I tell you, the president needs to be sure that his defense is a lot stronger than he's allowed it to be thus far.

Tucker Carlson: That's --

Tom Fitton: Because this impeachment didn't have to happen. He should have been defended more strongly legally. And the Senate trial, I don't know how it's going to turn out, but those who support the rule of law need to push back hard on this.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah. And the irony is, of course, they've been posturing all day about the rule of law, even as they work tirelessly to subvert it. Tom Fitton, great to see you tonight.

Tom Fitton: Thank you.

Tucker Carlson: Now as you said, the president has been speaking in Battle Creek, Michigan. I think he's continuing to speak; I think he's speaking at this moment, but he hasn't addressed impeachment. He addressed it for about 45 seconds earlier tonight, and he addressed it again also for about 45 seconds just a moment ago. We rolled on that as well. We want to bring it to you now.

[start video clip]

President Trump: With today's illegal, unconstitutional, and partisan impeachment the do-nothing Democrats -- and they are do nothing. All they want to do is focus on this, what they could be doing -- are declaring their deep hatred and disdain for the American voter. This lawless partisan impeachment is a political suicide march for the Democrat Party. Have you seen my polls in the last four weeks?

[applause]

It's crazy, you know why? Because people -- you know, we have an election right down the road.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: [affirmative] President of the United States, Battle Creek, Michigan. Louie Gohmert represents the great state of Texas in the United States Congress. Though tonight he was in effect accused of representing St. Petersburg and Moscow. He joins us tonight to clarify. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on. You were denounced as a tool of Russia tonight. Tell us how that played out.

Louie Gohmert: Well, it's such an outrage, because the thing I was pointing out is that if you want to really look at the facts, look at it in 2008. Russia invaded Georgia and Bush reacted adversely, and he put sanctions in place. And then in March of 2009, Obama sent Clinton, happily, for Clinton over with a red plastic reset button. And the message to Putin was clear, "Bush overreacted when you invaded Georgia with all those sanctions. We don't overreact when you invade.".

And so, you know, to Putin, it was a green light. Go ahead and invade Crimea. But of course, Putin was smart enough. He waited until Obama won a second term because he had more flexibility to allow Russia to do things. But they had been the pawns of the Russians. They -- you think the current President Trump would ever allow our uranium to be sold to Russia?

Louie Gohmert: No.

Tucker Carlson: This guy is the guy --

Louie Gohmert: Exactly. The irony.

Tucker Carlson: I mean --

Louie Gohmert: Congressman, if you don't mind --

Tucker Carlson: Your time, sure.

Louie Gohmert: I'll cut you off right there. I'll be back to you in just a minute. But the president is back onto impeachment. We want to get that live.

Tucker Carlson: All right. Good.

Louie Gohmert: Here he is.

Tucker Carlson: I'll call you. Can you imagine the president of the United States? "Don't call me. I'll call you." You know what that is? That's a mafia statement. Okay. That's the head of the mafia saying, "Don't call me up." This guy actually said that. And then he walked away, and people became incensed because they knew that was -- that the people that read the thing -- most people believed him because you know he's a corrupt politician? Hundred percent. No, he's a corrupt -- and then I see him -- by the way, you ever see this guy? He walks up to the mikes. I mean, we're not -- in all fairness, look, I don't want to be -- because with me, too, I never even think about looks anymore, okay? I don't talk about looks of a male or female. But in his case, let's just say, last time I'll ever refer to this, he's not exactly the best-looking guy we've ever seen.

President Trump: No. Any mic. He walks up to the mic. And he's so, "Huh" like this. "This is a sad, sad day for America. Our president is an employee of Russia. I have absolute proof that the president" -- this is at the beginning. And every week they say, "Where's the proof?" "It's coming. It's coming." Then we get the Muller report, nothing. And I'll tell you what, I know some of the people in this audience, if I spent not 45 million, not 18 Trump-haters, okay? I call them the angry Democrats. It was 13, then went to 18, and then Mueller. Did Mueller do a good job? Did he?

[booing]

How was his performance in front of Congress?

[booing]

Not the best. But think of this. Forty-five million they spent. And, you know, I heard somebody say, "Well, we got back some of that money." But I say, "You cost this country billions and billions and billions of dollars in all of the things that didn't get done, in all of the embarrassment to our country. You cause billions and billions of dollars, and it was a hoax." But this guy, Schiff, "I have absolute proof. I have this. I have. I have that. This. That." Anytime he sees a camera, and he's stone faced, right? Stone faced.

He's a pathological liar. He gets up, and I've never seen anything like it. Even I was saying, "I wonder what he has. What does he have?" He says, "I have absolute." I said, "I haven't spoken to Russia in years. What the hell do I have to do with Russia?" But this guy gets up.

Oh, I think we have a vote coming in. So, we got every single Republican voted for us. Whoa.

[applause]

Wow. Wow. Almost 200. So, we had 198, 229, 198, we didn't lose one Republican vote, and three Democrats voted for us. Haley. Haley.

[cheers]

[claps] Thank you, Haley. Great job. Wow. The Republican Party has never been so affronted, but they've never been so united as they are, right now. Never. And I know the senators, and they're great guys and women, too. We have some great women. We have great guys. They're great people. They love this country. They're going to do the right thing. They're going to do the right thing.

President in Battle Creek, Michigan. Dana Perino, we're going to look back on this and think what?

Dana Perino: I'll never forget that I was here with you on this day, Tucker. But I think that the president has some momentum. He's talking about his polls. He didn't lose a single Republican. The legislative agenda is moving forward. He's got a State of the Union coming up. The Senate trial will get underway in January. I don't think we'll have a huge impact on his ability to get some other things done because the Democrats know that they've got to do something, too.

Tucker Carlson: That's a nice summation. Weirdest night in memory. Dana Perino, thanks so much. We're back tomorrow.

Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Fox News Network, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.