DENVER — One day after announcing that he is leaving Congress, in part because of election denialism, Republican Congressman Ken Buck testified in defense of an election denier.
Buck was called to testify in support of former President Donald Trump in the trial that is attempting to keep him off the presidential ballot in Colorado.
The lawsuit, in its fourth day of trial, seeks to keep Trump off the 2024 ballot in Colorado, claiming that he engaged in an insurrection after having taken an oath to defend the Constitution, in violation of the 14th Amendment.
Buck was called by Trump’s team to discredit the January 6 committee report that is being used to try to prove Trump’s involvement in an insurrection.
“It’s like going into a courtroom as a prosecutor, not having a defense counsel or a defendant. I think, in order to be able to judge someone’s culpability, you’ve got to be able to hear both sides of the story, and in this case, there was not another side,” Buck said.
Buck testified remotely from his office in Washington, D.C.
Testimony that had to be interrupted when he needed to go to the House floor and cast a vote.
His direct testimony was limited to his experience on Jan. 6 and his thoughts on the January 6 committee report.
“What’s your view on it from a political standpoint in Congress?” asked Trump attorney Scott Gessler.
“I voted to certify the election. I thought what happened on January 6 was obviously bad. It was a riot in the Capitol building. It was meant to disturb a proceeding, and I felt that the parts of the report that I saw described those things. It went beyond that in other areas and that’s where I think the cross-examination, in terms of the president’s culpability, would have been important,” Buck said.
He revealed that he asked then-Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to be on the January 6 committee, but was told ‘no.’
“I actually called Kevin McCarthy because of my background as a prosecutor, and I asked Kevin if I could get his permission to seek to serve on that committee because I thought it was important that witnesses were cross-examined, and documents were challenged. And Kevin told me that he did not want me serving on that committee, and that he did not want anybody else, any other Republican, serving on that committee,” Buck said.
Under cross-examination, Buck was asked if he believed Trump supporters sometimes acted with violence based on the former president’s statements.
“If President Trump says, ‘it’s your duty to vote, you need to go vote,’ I think that his supporters would listen to that and follow his instructions. I think if President Trump says, ‘you know, I want you to go kill somebody,’ I don’t think political supporters, being political supporters, and not otherwise engaged, would go and kill somebody. I think it depends on what the order is. And I think it depends on the legality of the order. And I think it depends on the context of the order,” Buck said.
Just before Buck had to leave to cast a vote, attorney Mario Nicolais, representing the petitioners trying to disqualify Trump, tried to link Buck’s video statement yesterday announcing his intention to not seek reelection with his views on January 6.
“And did you also say, ‘these insidious narratives breed widespread cynicism and erode Americans confidence in the rule of law.’ Did you say that as well?” Nicolais asked.
“I did,” Buck said.
“What are the lies and insidious narratives regarding the 2020 election and January 6 that you’re talking about?” Nicolais asked.
“So, I…,” Buck started.
Gessler interrupted.
“Your honor, do I need to – may I object again. This may be salacious political material, but it’s beyond the scope of the direct, it’s not for bias and if we want to avoid this becoming a circus, we should not go into this testimony,” Gessler said.
The judge agreed and sustained the objection.
Since he was only asked on direct examination about his experience on Jan. 6 and the January 6 commission report, the judge did not see enough of a link to allow a question about his video announcing he was not seeking reelection.
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