Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) is sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We get to do a lot of pretty amazing special things in this place, but very few are as humbling, exciting, and more full-circled in the moment that we're here to see.
00:30I'm honored for the privilege of introducing, for the first time officially, the United States' new ambassador to Israel, my dad, Mike Huckabur.
00:45And there's probably no more fitting place that we could have his official swearing in than right here, where some of his biggest professional moments and accomplishments ever took place.
01:06One of the biggest, I would say, and certainly the most important lesson that my parents ever taught me was to always be who God created you to be.
01:17And I don't know that I can think of anything more fulfilling or more perfectly exemplified of that than my dad being willing to enter back into public service, put everything aside, and take this very difficult and challenging role on than this.
01:38And I know that you will do such an unbelievably incredible job in this role as you have done in everything you've ever taken on.
01:48We could not be more proud of you, more excited to celebrate, and I don't think there's anybody that is more perfectly created for this moment than you.
01:57And I am honored that I get the chance to introduce you and stand here in this moment as you get sworn in and take over these official duties.
02:06I know I joined my entire family, my brothers, my husband, my sister-in-law, and all of our kids and the rest of our family in saying congratulations.
02:17We are so proud of you.
02:18We love you so much.
02:19And we will be cheering you on every step of the way from back home in Arkansas.
02:24With that, I'm going to turn it over to your college roommate and our favorite Caldwell, Rick, who, if any of you know their story,
02:37the very first time my dad ever had the chance to go to Israel was right after high school graduation,
02:43where Rick and my dad had the opportunity to visit Israel and several other countries.
02:51And the Bible that my dad will actually be sworn in on, he brought back to my mom, and she carried in her wedding.
02:59I carried in mine, and we were both sworn in as governor on this Bible.
03:03It came from that very first trip that he got to go on with you.
03:07And my dad has said many times that it is the only place that you can ever go for the very first time and feel like you're going home.
03:16And so what an incredibly full-circle moment.
03:18And with that, I will turn it over to Rick to offer up a word of prayer, make a few comments, and then see you officially get sworn in.
03:26We're proud of you, Deb.
03:29Thank you, Governor, for briefly mentioning my relationship with your dad
03:38and not telling any war stories from our year in college together.
03:41We both traded up after being roommates together, and he traded up for Janet.
03:47I traded up for my wife, JoNell.
03:49And both families, we've been married 50 years.
03:53Mike and Janet have been married 50 years.
03:55So after having the roommates we had, anything was easy.
04:00It is a joy now to invite you to pray with me on this special time.
04:06Let's bow our heads.
04:08Dear Heavenly Father, we are so grateful, not just for this special day,
04:13but the days that have preceded today in the life of Mike and Janet Huckabee.
04:18The days of experience in many areas of fields and developing their love and familiarity with Israel,
04:28so many things have preceded today.
04:31So we come with a grateful heart, not for just this appointment and this opportunity,
04:36but for the things you have done to bring them together for such a time as this.
04:41We ask your blessing on our time together.
04:43Father, we ask you to continually remind us to not just pray today,
04:50but to pray every day for the peace of Israel
04:53and pray for the role that Mike will have in helping craft that peace.
05:00Lord Jesus, we ask you to anoint him.
05:03We ask you to continue to guide him.
05:05We ask you to keep us undergirding him in prayer.
05:09For it is in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray these things.
05:14Amen.
05:15And now, the ambassador.
05:26Rick, thank you very much, and I'm glad you didn't tell any stories from college.
05:31It might have ended my ambassadorship.
05:33I would have been the shortest-serving ambassador in the history of the United States.
05:39What a joy to be surrounded by family, by so many wonderful friends, people that I've had the joy of being just a part of in their lives and theirs in mine.
05:53Today is an incredible day, one that I started wondering was ever going to happen.
05:58Folks, the ordeal to get appointed to be ambassador is something that I never would have imagined.
06:05And I've told some folks, I said, if I knew how complicated it was going to be and how drawn out it was going to be,
06:11I might have just said to the president, here am I, send somebody else.
06:16But I'm glad I did say, here am I, send me.
06:20And that has been my response to an unexpected phone call that I got just days after the election.
06:26And President Trump called, and if you know President Trump, he doesn't call and say, would you consider, or have you ever thought about,
06:35or I'd like to invite you to think about, none of that.
06:39It's, Mike, you're going to be my ambassador.
06:43You're going to go to Israel.
06:44Hope you're ready.
06:45You're going.
06:47That's it.
06:48And I said, how much time do I have to kind of let family and others know?
06:53He said, oh, you'll have plenty of time to let your family know.
06:56Thirty minutes later, Fox News was telling about it.
06:59I barely got word to Janet, who was in Oklahoma on a Samaritan's Purse mission,
07:04and told her before she heard it on the news or by somebody calling.
07:09But we stand here today having just been able to witness the Senate confirmation vote.
07:15It happened, I guess, about 1230 today.
07:19They had to hurry the paperwork to the White House that he had to sign, the president.
07:25And we were really sweating it out.
07:27Was he going to get to that in time for the swearing-in?
07:31And we were thinking, if he doesn't, we'll just say, hope you all had a really nice time down at the Capitol.
07:38Enjoy the scenery and the exhibits.
07:39But literally at ten minutes, maybe five minutes until three, we got word and we saw the video of him signing the document and making it official.
07:54So just in time, not too early, and thank goodness, not too late.
08:01Rick Caldwell and I do go back to our days at Boys State, where we first met.
08:06During our senior year of high school, he lived in Bryant, I was in Hope.
08:12We were close friends through that process and would see each other often.
08:17He wanted to take a senior trip.
08:19He asked his dad, could he go to the Middle East, take a trip.
08:23His dad said, well, not by yourself, but if you'll take Mike Huckabee with you, I'll pay his way.
08:29You have to understand, there's no way I could have ever raised up enough money to get to Prescott, much less get to Jerusalem.
08:39In so many ways, Rick being here and offering this prayer is so perfect, because has it not been for him and his dad, the wonderful Harley Caldwell, one of the greatest men ever,
08:52I wouldn't be standing here today, none of this would have happened.
08:57I've been back to Israel a hundred times.
08:59Rick has never been back.
09:03I have insisted that now that he knows the ambassador, he'd better come back.
09:10Long overdue.
09:12Long overdue.
09:13In just a moment, I'll be sworn in by someone that many of you know by reputation, but maybe you don't know the real back story.
09:23Judge Levinsky Smith is the judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most important courts, obviously, in the entire country, just below the U.S. Supreme Court.
09:34What you don't probably know is that Judge Smith and I go back to the days when he was seven years old, and I was ten, and we both grew up in Hope.
09:45When I was doing the radio broadcast of Little League Baseball for the Hope radio station, I used to do the play-by-play, and he was at bat, and I would tell people about what a great athlete he was.
09:57He was just a kid.
09:59His brother Casey and I were classmates and good friends.
10:02His brother, unfortunately, passed away at age 38.
10:07Judge, I'm absolutely confident that he looks down today, and he says, those old Hope boys did all right for themselves.
10:17But rather than have my swearing-in in Washington, a city that means really not very much to me, the place I get out of as quickly as I can and go as seldom as I can,
10:28I wanted to do it here, here in Arkansas, here in Little Rock, and specifically here in this state capitol, because I knew that the governor would give me a rent-free opportunity.
10:41I happen to know her, and she made me a deal, so why not?
10:49But I can't think of any place that I'd rather do it than here, and I can't think of anyone that blesses me more to swear me in as an ambassador for our country to the state of Israel than Judge Levinsky Smith,
11:03who I've known for close to 60 years, which is scary.
11:11Neither of us look that old, but we are.
11:15And when he comes to swear me in, as Sarah mentioned, this Bible I first bought for Janet when I was in Jerusalem in 1973 on that trip where Rick and I went.
11:26I brought this Bible home.
11:29I gave one to my sister, one to my mother, and I gave one to Janet, who I was dating at the time.
11:37Less than a year later, we would be married, and she would carry this Bible in our wedding.
11:41Years later, when I was sworn in as lieutenant governor twice and governor three times, she always brought this Bible, and I was sworn in every time.
11:52When Sarah and Brian married, Sarah carried this Bible in her wedding.
11:58And when she was sworn in as governor, this was the Bible upon which her hand held.
12:04It's pretty special.
12:05The fact that it has survived these now 52 years is amazing in itself.
12:13And I want to say how grateful I am to be able to share this moment with Janet, who's carried not only a Bible all these years,
12:23but carried a faithful, consistent willingness to go anywhere and do anything that God ever called us to do.
12:33And of all the tests, I think, that we've been given, this may be one of the biggest.
12:39It's not like, well, we're going to move from Little Rock.
12:41We're going to go to Memphis.
12:44Nope.
12:44We're going halfway around the world to Jerusalem.
12:47And it looks like next week will be the week that we will actually deploy and get to post.
12:52I was praying that I would be able to be there by the end of Passover and by Easter Sunday.
12:58We will make it right on time, being there probably next Thursday.
13:04So with that, I hope that that's a little background that will be a blessing.
13:09But I'm blessed to welcome Judge Levinsky Smith, native of Hope, who worked in the governor's office when I was governor,
13:19who I appointed to the public service as chairman, later to the state Supreme Court,
13:25later recommended him to President Bush for the Court of Appeals.
13:29And President Bush, one of his best decisions, appointed Judge Smith to that post where he's been since 2002.
13:37He was the chief judge of the Eighth Circuit for seven years.
13:43And he also was named by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to be the chief justice of all of the appellate court judges across the country,
13:53something that, again, brought real distinction to our state and to Judge Smith and his wonderful family, who I know from Hope.
14:03Judge, if you would come forward and preside over the oath, and Janet, if you will come.
14:10Place your hand on the Bible.
14:25Raise your right hand.
14:27I, Mike Huckabee.
14:29I, Mike Huckabee.
14:30Do solemnly swear.
14:31Do solemnly swear.
14:33That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
14:36That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
14:40Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
14:43Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
14:46That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
14:49That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
14:53And I take this obligation freely.
14:56And I take this obligation freely.
14:58Without any mental reservation.
15:00Without any mental reservation.
15:03Or purpose of evasion.
15:04Or purpose of evasion.
15:06And that I will well and faithfully.
15:08And that I will well and faithfully.
15:11Discharge the duties of the office.
15:13Discharge the duties of the office.
15:15On which I am about to enter.
15:17On which I am about to enter.
15:18So help me God.
15:20So, help me God.
15:21And now we will sign the official documents.
16:51Thank you, sir.
16:53Thank you very, very much.
16:55Honored.
16:56You did this.
16:59And with that, I shall be on my way soon.
17:02Thank you, and God bless you.