A video released on social media Monday by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders featuring photos of the podium at the center of a months-long investigation by state auditors was intended to be a “tongue-in-cheek video,” according to her deputy chief of staff.
The motivation behind the video, as well as the effort to produce it, became the subject of several questions from lawmakers Tuesday after its release Monday afternoon.
Sanders posted the 20-second video on X, formerly known as Twitter, at about 4:30 p.m., minutes after Arkansas Legislative Audit released a report that her office potentially violated several state laws on budgeting, accounting, purchasing and tampering with public records related to her office’s purchase in June of a lectern and travel case. The cost of the lectern, a carrying case and associated fees totaled $19,029.
The video depicts an old lectern used by the governor’s office that disappears in a flash of smoke and is replaced by the one purchased by Sanders’ office as Jay-Z’s 2003 song “Public Service Announcement (Interlude)” plays. The words “MY NAME IS PODIUM” appear, and the video cuts to several close shots of the lectern.
The video ends by cutting to a silhouette of the lectern and text that reads, “COME AND TAKE IT.”
My thoughts on the podium… pic.twitter.com/d57R1aw7r8
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) April 15, 2024
During the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee meeting Tuesday addressing the purchase of the lectern, Rep. Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, asked Judd Deere, deputy chief of staff for the governor’s office, if he believed the video was “appropriate in light of the seriousness of this matter.”
Deere said the video was part of Sanders’ response to the audit, and that her office had spent the past six months allowing the audit to occur “without unduly influencing it.”
“The governor put out a response last night now that the audit is complete,” Deere said. “It’s a tongue-in-cheek video. That’s all it is.”
According to Deere, the video also was meant to signal it’s time for her office, as well as lawmakers, to move on with other matters such as the fiscal session.
“She was just making that point clear,” he said.
McCullough said the process wasn’t completed when Sanders posted the video, as the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee meeting had not occurred.
“[It] felt like spiking the football before we’d been through the whole process,” she said.
In response to a question by Rep. Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, Deere told lawmakers the video was produced by Keaton Davis, creative director for the governor’s office. Davis produced the video during his personal time using his own assets.
“No taxpayer funds were used to produce or post that video,” Deere said.
Governor’s office spokeswoman Alexa Henning did not respond to questions Tuesday about the video, including whether the post accomplished Sanders’ aims.
The video had drawn roughly a million views on X by 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. It had been “liked” about 3,200 times, and roughly 1,000 people had retweeted it. According to X, about 2,000 people had commented on the post.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas retweeted the video, saying, “This is not and never was a partisan matter, but a very serious investigation of wrongdoing by government officials who may have broken as many as seven state laws. No one should be above the law in Arkansas.”
The Republican Party of Arkansas did not share the video on its feed. Republican Party of Arkansas Executive Director Seth Mays did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the video.
Matt Campbell, a Little Rock attorney and author of the Blue Hog Report blog, first reported the lectern’s purchase, posting the purchase invoice on X in September. The move prompted state Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana to request the audit of the lectern purchase.
“Our governor is an unserious child, pretending like the auditor’s report exonerates her while ignoring that it LITERALLY says the auditors have referred the findings to the prosecutor’s office.” Campbell posted on X after the video was posted on the social media platform.
Former state Sen. Jim Hendren of Sulphur Springs retweeted the video, saying “I miss grown-ups.”
Tom Mars, a former director of Arkansas State Police and personal attorney for former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders’ father, posted Tuesday on X, “I can’t help but think there’s something Freudian about the crooked Seal of the State of Arkansas in the Governor’s #lecterngate hype video.” Mars declined to comment further on the video.
Others praised the video.
Sanders shared a retweet from Brilyn Hollyhand, the 17-year-old behind conservative news service The Truth Gazette. Hollyhand wrote, “COME AND TAKE IT! So epic! @SarahHuckabee can still troll the Libs from the Governor’s office.”
Arkansas-born Alexis Wilkins, a country music singer, retweeted Sanders’ video, saying, “This is exactly the appropriate response.”
Chris Corbitt, an attorney with Corbitt Law Firm who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican to represent House District 55 in 2022, also praised the post.
“ok… I like that video!!!” he said. “freaking great editing and the music … the bomb!”
Adam Johnson, a Florida man who became known as the “Podium Guy” after being photographed carrying U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, replied to Sanders’ video with an altered photo that replaced Pelosi’s lectern with the one purchased by Sanders’ office.
“I have a particular set of skills,” Johnson wrote.