Mike Huckabee says Trump didn't snub Pelosi handshake
Mike Huckabee says President Trump did not appear to see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi extend her hand for a handshake before the State of the Union.
President Trump did not snub House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's attempt at a handshake before his State of the Union address, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Thursday.
In an interview on the "Brian Kilmeade Show," Huckabee said that he believes the "handshake thing" has been "overblown."
He told Kilmeade that he truly doesn't believe the president saw Pelosi extend her hand after watching the video multiple times.
"I don't think he saw her hand. I truly don't. If he did, he should have shaken her hand. But, I don't think he saw and just handed her the speech," said Huckabee. "He didn't shake Pence's hand because that wasn't his purpose."
Huckabee urged listeners to remember that "if there was anything petty in the beginning, it was that [Pelosi] who did not follow the normal protocol for the introduction" for the first time in history.
President Trump arrives to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi reaches to shake his hand. (Leah Millis/Pool via AP)
"And that was clearly a snub," he remarked. "But it didn't come across well. And the tearing of the script — that has to be one of the lowest moments."
In a news conference after attending the National Prayer Breakfast with the president on Thursday morning, Pelosi told reporters that the president declining to shake her hand "meant nothing" to her.
Later on, the president would respond to Pelosi during his own remarks on his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial.
"I had Nancy Pelosi sitting four seats away and I'm saying things that a lot of people wouldn't have said, but I meant them," he laughed.
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"I think there's, sometimes, a difference between being Christian and being a phony. You don't want to be a phony. I think that for him to pretend that somehow everything is sweet and cool between he and Nancy would be disingenuous," Huckabee said.
"Would it be nice for him to go over?" he asked. "Maybe. But it would be probably very difficult."
"And, if he couldn't do it in good conscience – if he couldn't go over and believe that she entertained his gesture – maybe he's doing her a favor by not putting her on the spot," Huckabee mused.