After the impeachment acquittal of his client former President Donald Trump on Saturday, attorney Michael van der Veen joined CBS News host Lana Zak for an interview. Van der Veen got infuriated with Zak’s leading question sympathizing with the Democratic Party’s doctoring of trial evidence, going on a rant and saying “You are bloodthirsty for ratings,” before taking off his microphone and walking off.
MVDV just destroyed the entire media in this clip. Absolute must-watch. pic.twitter.com/RqyruxI3AD
— AmericaFest Poso (@JackPosobiec) February 14, 2021
Zak began the interview by accusing van der Veen’s usage of the term “insurrection” as contradicting his prior statements about the January Capitol breach.
“Sure, I used the word ‘insurrection’ in my closing argument when quoting the charging documents,” replied Trump’s attorney. “What happened at the Capitol on January 6 is absolutely horrific. But what happened at the Capitol during this trail was not too far away from that. The prosecutors in this case doctored evidence. They did not investigate this case and when they had to come to the court of the Senate to put their case on, they hadn’t done any investigation. They doctored evidence.”
The CBS host followed up with a question about van der Veen’s reference to doctored evidence by the prosecution, attempting to trivialize it.
“To be clear for our viewers, what you’re talking about is a checkmark that’s a verification on Twitter that did not exist on that particular tweet, a 2020 that should have actually read 2021, and the selective editing, you say, of the tapes,” Zak said. “Is that the doctored evidence of what you’re speaking?”
This ridiculous comment pushed the interview off the rails, as Trump’s attorney called her out for attempting to portray the doctoring of evidence in an impeachment trial as of little significance.
The prosecution was found to have doctored a tweet by Jennifer Lynn Lawrence with a blue checkmark to indicate verification. Trump had retweeted Lawrence’s post. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., falsified the addition in a tweet of his own, while a senior impeachment aide claimed the alteration was wholly accidental.
“I’ve never been verified on Twitter,” Lawrence said, “so why did my Tweet used in the fact-free impeachment include a verification badge? I’m assuming Democrats faked it like they are faking the whole case.”
I’ve never been verified on Twitter so why did my Tweet used in the fact-free impeachment include a verification badge? I’m assuming Democrats faked it like they are faking the whole case. @RepSwalwell why did you add a verified badge to my tweet in your presentation? pic.twitter.com/9Ww0TLveNA
— Jennifer Lynn Lawrence (@JenLawrence21) February 10, 2021
Van der Veen then went on to own Zak, demonstrating media malfeasance in covering the impeachment.
Ma’am, your question is turned. What has to happen, the media has to start telling the right story in this country. The media is trying to divide the country. You are bloodthirsty for ratings, and as such, you’re asking questions now that are already set up with a fact pattern. I can’t believe you would ask me a question indicating that it’s all right just to doctor a little bit of evidence. There’s more stuff that we uncovered that they doctored, to be frank with you, and perhaps that will come out one day. …
What I’m telling you is that they doctored evidence, and I believe your question says, ‘Well, it’s only a Twitter check and changing a year of date here.’ They switched the date of a Twitter a year to try to connect it to this case. That’s not a small thing. ma’am. The other thing they did is they put a check mark on something to make it look like it was a validated account when it wasn’t. And when they were caught, they didn’t say anything about it. They didn’t even try to come up with an excuse about it. And that’s not the way our prosecutors or our government officials should be conducting themselves.
And the media shouldn’t be letting them get away with it, either. I’m tired of the biased media on both sides, left and right. What this country wants, what this country needs, is this country to come together; to take the left and the right and find a middle ground and start responsibly being our public officials, our elected officials. And one of the reasons why they do it is because of the media. Because the media want to tell their narrative, rather than just telling it is. And frankly, I’m tired of it. I’m not in front of your cameras all the time, but what I’ve been subjected to this last week —
At the end of the interview, van der Veen tossed his microphone aside and walked off the camera, while Zak looked flushed.
The media’s disdain for facts and preference for their own truth lives on.
