In a speech from Trump Tower, former president Donald Trump responded to his “guilty” conviction in his New York hush money trial. He slammed the trial as “rigged” and even called the Biden administration “fascist” — something that Glenn says was “appropriate, but shocking to hear.” Glenn, his chief researcher Jason Buttrill, and BlazeTV contributor Jill Savage break down the biggest moments from the speech. Plus, Glenn reveals the one thing he would have changed about it.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Well, let's -- as he walks away, into the Trump Tower, I think there was one miss. And that was right at the beginning. He should have walked down with Melania down the escalator, exactly the same way he did in 2016. I noticed that speech ran about 34 minutes. And within the first ten, the mainstream media had already broken away, except for Fox.
He was telling a story, and doing what Trump does best. Just goes out and just wings it. I wish he would have been a little more focused towards the beginning when everybody was watching.
But it was a real embarrassment for our country, the things that he was saying. And I took pages and pages of notes here of it. And we're not going to have time to go over it all. But we're going to move the three of us into the TV studio after this. And we'll record a special Friday episode of Glenn Beck TV. And you'll be able to download that as soon as we're done, with it. We have Steve Deace coming up next. So we can't do it live.
What were your impressions?
JILL: I loved the way that he did come out and say, you know, they -- they were coming after me, and he called them a group of fascists. And he was using very strong language at the beginning.
GLENN: Yeah.
JILL: But then it felt like he hasn't been on the campaign trail for so long, and he wanted to get back out there. That it felt like everything was just spewing out of his mouth. Things that he wish he could have been saying, instead of talking about the trial for the last month. We got all of it in one speech.
GLENN: Yeah. Right. Right.
JILL: But this wasn't necessarily the time for that. This is, I am a political prisoner time.
GLENN: I thought the first few minutes. Maybe the first five were very effective. Because he said things that were very powerful, like fascists. I can't talk about this because of gag order.
You know, what's happening in the country, between our finances and the border.
Italy those were all really, really strong.
JASON: He said, this is bigger than my presidency, which that was really strong.
GLENN: Really strong. Several times, he said, it's my honor. It's not pleasant. But it is my honor to do this.
Because somebody has to.
JASON: Yeah. Somebody has to.
Democrats and Bragg released the kraken. Absolutely did. I saw a couple of Twitter posts. One from the Trump campaign. That it took screen shots of every single network that was covering this. And they said, wall-to-wall. ABC.
NBC. CNN. CBS.
Everyone had this. At least the first ten minutes of this.
Everyone. And it's been a complete blackout on him. For, what?
Years now.
Since he left office.
A complete blackout. Now they're forced to cover it. They're forced to allow the American people to listen to what they did to him. It's a big screwup, in my opinion.
GLENN: You know, the one thing that would have made this much more fair.
If they would have covered the trial. The one thing I would like to have seen, if it could have ever been done. Is to release the video footage that we know was taken in the courtroom. They were watching it. Some of the press watching it in the hallways. But we weren't allowed to see it.
What could be more important to the American people?
And that is why they didn't do it. Because they -- they know. If Americans actually pay attention to this, and go, well, is anything that he is saying. Is that true.
And they go, and they actually look for the information themselves, they'll be horrified. And they will understand how -- how much trouble a republic is in.
We're running out of time.
JILL: It goes back to your point of storytelling. And why that is so important. If you're able to sit there and watch it for yourself. You have a completely different view of what this trial would have been.
But they had the ability to manipulate it, and spin it in a way to where they present it to you. And that is a completely different viewing experience, you know, when you're -- when you're watching somebody with a biased agenda. Giving you the facts. Quote, unquote, facts of the case.
You're not going to say, okay. This is exactly from the mouth of the judge. From the mouth of the witnesses. From the mouth of the judge. It's completely different.
GLENN: You know, and I found it interesting. Because he just speaks.
And you can show that -- you can see that there was so much for him to say. You know, I had an experience with George Bush, towards the end of his presidency. And, you know, we were -- we were just -- he was underwater. And, you know, he was like, and -- and another thing. Shoes. And you were like, what the -- every time he would talk. He was just all over the board.
And he said to me, because he was talking to ever in the Oval Office. Privately.
And there were a few of us in there. And I was sitting right to his chair on the couch.
And, man, he was strong. And told me, what was going on, on the ground and everything else.
And I said, no offense, Mr. President. But this is what the American people need to hear. What you just said.
And he gave a couple of caveats that aren't worth getting into now. But the one thing he said was, everything a president says is watched and monitored by Intel all over the world.
And they interpret the shift of my eyes, the shift of my weight when I say it. He said, there are so many things that I can't say, that I'm calculating all the time.
Donald Trump never seems to calculate. However, you could see the subtle calculation there.
When he was talking about -- when he was talking about, you know, that very great guy. That was just raked over the coals.
And yada, yada, yada.
That was Bob Costello.
He said it later, but I think that is, again, him. Where is the line on what will get me in trouble?
Bob Costello, when they cleared the courtroom, I talked to Alan Dershowitz, the very next day. He was sitting in the front row. And he was allowed to see what nobody else saw. They cleared the courtroom.
And he berated him, because when the judge made a ruling, that was an unusual ruling, in fact.
Alan Dershowitz said, one of the only -- I've never heard a ruling like that. It made no sense. He said, Bob looked up at the judge. And raised his eyebrows. Like, really.
And then he cleared the courtroom. And berated him.
You will -- you will not do that.
I think he might have even threatened him with jail.
If he raises his eyebrows again. This guy is unhinged. Just unhinged.
And, you know, Donald Trump is going to continue to tell the story as much as he can.
But the American people should have seen it themselves.
The other things that I think were important, that he said he continued to come back to the border. He continued to talk about the terrorists that are in. He said something I've never heard him say before.
You know, 2019.
And this was good for me. But they said in 2019, no terrorist entered the country.
But I don't believe that to be true.
I've never heard him take a compliment. And say, I don't believe that.
But I agree with him.
I don't either.
But now we're at the highest level.
He also talked about our debt. Our dependence on oil.
He called -- he not only called Biden stupid. And worse -- the worst president we've ever had.
He referred to the president and those who were in the administration as fascists. Which I thought was really strong language. And appropriate, but shocking to hear.
JASON: It will be shocking for many people on the left that don't even know the definition of the word, that have been throwing it around willy-nilly to hear that about themselves.
GLENN: Yeah.
JASON: I hope there's a little bit of self-reflection.
GLENN: Yeah. There won't be. But the definition of a fascist is an authoritarian state that partners with corporations and the media to control. And that's exactly what we're doing.
It's exactly what bide citizen doing. He is technically 100 percent accurate.
On his labeling of this administration. Fascistic.