On February 13, Trump defense attorney Michael van der Veen stormed out of an interview with CBS's Lana Zak after she followed up on his claims that impeachment prosecutors "doctored evidence."
After Lana Zak pushed back against van der Veen's claim, he lost his composure, mocking her by imitating her voice and claiming:
"What happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was absolutely horrific, but what happened at the Capitol during this trial was not too far away from that."
Seven have died as a result of the January 6 insurrection, which is obviously much worse than an impeachment hearing into that insurrection.
When van der Veen claimed the impeachment prosecutors had brought "doctored evidence" to the trial, Zak clarified:
"To be clear for our viewers, what you're talking about now 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."
Van der Veen then interrupted, saying:
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's not enough for you? That's not enough for you?"
"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."
Zak tried to calm van der Veen by saying she was not attempting to draw a judgement but was only trying to make viewers aware of the evidence he was referencing.
Trump's lawyer responded by raising his voice to imitate her and saying:
"That was your question: 'Isn't it OK for them to cheat? Just a little bit?' You said, 'To be fair, it was only a check on the Twitter.' That's what you said."
As Zak tried to wrap the interview up by thanking van der Veen for his time, he ripped off his microphone and threw it to the ground before walking off camera.
Twitter roasted van der Veen from all sides for his immature behaviour.
It seems former President Trump is lucky so many Republican Senators were prepared to support him regardless of how his lawyers performed, because van der Veen isn't great at responding to high-pressure moments.
The Senate voted 57 to 43 to convict Trump. But conviction votes require a two-thirds instead of a majority vote.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Ronald Grump the Muppet in 1988; Joe Pesci as Ronald Grump in 1994; Donald Grump in 2005PBS
PBS
PBS
