-Today, Senators reviewed the FBI report
on the allegations against
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh,
despite the fact that the FBI
didn't actually conduct a serious investigation.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
When the allegations against Kavanaugh first surfaced,
Trump's aides tried to restrain him.
But to literally no one's surprise,
that facade quickly unraveled.
And in the last week or so,
he's had one outburst after another.
-If we brought George Washington here
and we said, "We have George Washington,"
the Democrats would vote against him.
I'm a very famous person, unfortunately.
"This is so-and-so calling." He took the call.
Why is he taking a call from a Russian?
-I'd like to turn to Judge Kavanaugh --
-Don't do that. Don't do that.
Do you have -- -Mr. President --
-Excuse me. Go ahead, please.
-Just to wrap up, can you promise to --
-You know what? You've really had enough.
Hey, you've had enough.
I'm not a drinker.
I can honestly say I never had a beer in my life.
I've never had alcohol.
You know, for whatever reason.
Can you imagine if I had?
-No. [ Laughter ]
I honestly -- I honestly can't.
You already scream and yell
and slur your words like a stumbling drunk.
Even the way you stand is the way a drunk guy would stand
if he was trying to pretend he wasn't drunk.
"Okay. Just act cool."
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
"Arms at your side.
Puff out your chest. No one --
No -- No one will notice you're swaying back and forth.
Oh. Oh, my God, I'm gonna puke."
[ Laughter ]
The president mocked and dismissed the allegations
against Kavanaugh, so it's no wonder
that the FBI investigation he requested
wasn't actually a serious attempt to get at the truth.
Today, for example, the FBI finally delivered its report,
and if you're wondering how that's possible,
it's because their investigation lasted less than a week.
They delivered the report in under a week.
I had to do a report on the Louisiana Purchase
in 6th grade, and it took me a month.
[ Laughter ]
And I got a "C."
They didn't even interview Kavanaugh
or Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
They really went over this thing with a no-toothed comb.
[ Laughter ]
And when they were investigating
the other allegations against Kavanaugh,
they made it clear they had no intention
of actually talking to people who might have more information.
-Deborah Ramirez, who talked to the FBI
for two hours about her allegations of misconduct
when they were at Yale.
Ramirez's lawyer says his client provided a list
of more than 20 witnesses
who say they could corroborate her story.
He says the FBI has not reached out to any of them.
-Think about that -- more than 20 people
said they might have corroborating evidence,
and the FBI talked to none of them.
If the FBI worked like this on the "The X-Files,"
Mulder's landlord could've been an alien,
and he never would've noticed.
[ Laughter ]
In fact, people who said they could corroborate
the allegations against Kavanaugh
actually tried to seek out the FBI themselves,
and even then, they were ignored.
One person who told "The New Yorker,"
"I can corroborate Debbie's account,"
reached out to the Bureau last weekend
but did not hear back.
Frustrated, he submitted his statement
through an FBI web portal.
No one should ever have to log on to the FBI's web portal.
You shouldn't have to contact the FBI
the same way I pay my dentist.
In fact, no one should ever have to log on to anything
that's still called a web portal.
"Would you like to report a crime to the FBI?
Begin by logging on to the information superhighway
and popping in your AOL CD-ROM."
[ Laughter ]
This investigation was obviously a sham,
and sure enough, when the report finally came in today,
Republican Senators like Jeff Flake and Orrin Hatch
were quick to claim that there was nothing new in it.
-The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley saying,
"There's nothing we didn't already know,"
and that there was "no hint of misconduct."
Senator Jeff Flake says he has seen,
"No additional corroborating information"
against Judge Kavanaugh.
-No corroboration.
No confirmation of any of these outrageous accusations
that have been made against him.
-We have found nothing.
Absolutely nothing to corroborate
accusations against him.
-That's because you didn't look for it.
You guys are like treasure hunters
who decided to call it quits before you flipped over the map.
[ Laughter ]
This entire process has been a deeply revealing look
at Senate Republicans.
Trump, of course, has always been unhinged,
but Republicans in the Senate like to pretend
that they were all the stable, above-it-all statesmen
who were just putting up with his antics
to get their judges and tax cuts.
But over the last few weeks, many of them
have lost their minds in Trumpian fashion.
Just take South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.
Graham was once thought of as a Trump critic,
but then, during the Kavanaugh hearing, he exploded with rage.
-I cannot imagine what you and your family have gone through.
Boy, you all want power.
God, I hope you never get it.
I hope the American people can see through this sham.
God, I hate to say it, 'cause these have been my friends.
But let me tell you, when it comes to this,
you're looking for a fair process,
you came to the wrong town at the wrong time, my friend.
-He sounds like an outlaw gunslinger
threatening to kill the Lone Ranger.
But let's face it,
if it came down to an Old West gunfight,
Graham would be the guy hiding behind the pickle barrel
with his fingers in his ears.
[ Laughter ]
He did the same thing yesterday when he was asked
about the President viciously mocking Dr. Ford.
This time, Graham was in front of an audience,
and they booed him.
-I don't like what the President said last night.
I'm the first person to say I want to hear from Dr. Ford.
I thought she was handled respectfully.
I thought Kavanaugh was treated like crap.
[ Audience booing, hissing ]
Yeah, well, boo yourself.
-Man... [ Laughter ]
...he's just fighting with the audience now.
He's like the least-threatening pro wrestler ever.
"My name's Lindsey, but you can call me
the Southern Snake, and, brother,
I'm gonna bite your ankle."
[ Audience booing ]
"Well, boo right back at you!
You're all a bunch of meanies!"
[ Laughter ]
Graham has gone so far off the deep end
that he even called for one of his colleagues,
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, to apologize to Kavanaugh.
You might remember these exchanges
from the hearing last week in which a furious Kavanaugh
tried to turn questions about his hard-drinking
high school and college days
back on the Senators asking them.
-I like beer. I like beer.
I don't know if you -- You like beer, Senator, or not?
-Um... -What do you like to drink?
-Next one is --
-Senator, what do you like to drink?
-So, you're saying there's never been a case
where you drank so much that you didn't remember
what happened the night before or part of what happened?
-You're asking about blackout. I don't know. Have you?
-Could you answer the question, Judge, and just --
So, you -- that's not happened? Is that your answer?
-Yeah. And I'm curious if you have.
-I have no drinking problem, Judge.
-Yeah, nor do I.
-Ugh!
We all knew this [bleep] in college, right?
The guy who would get pulled over, and the cop would say,
"Do you know how fast you were going?"
and this guy would go, "Do you know how fast I was going?"
[ Laughter ]
And then, 20 years later, you get a LinkedIn request from him,
and he's the CEO of a dog-poison company.
[ Laughter ]
The only way he could've looked crazier during that hearing
is if he was wearing one of those beer-guzzler helmets.
[ Laughter ]
No, even Kavanaugh, as unhinged as he was,
came back after the break and apologized to Klobuchar,
who has written extensively about her father's alcoholism.
Yet on Fox News this week,
Graham said it was actually Klobuchar
who owed Kavanaugh an apology.
-Here's what I think. Amy Klobuchar should apologize
to Judge Kavanaugh and his family
for being part of a "schmear" campaign I haven't seen
in over 20 years in politics.
-Excuse me. Did you say a "schmear" campaign?
[ Laughter ]
Were you hungry when you did that interview?
Did you just come from the deli?
"This is a schmear campaign."
[ Laughter ]
And as for Hillary, we should lox her up."
[ Laughter ]
"I've had --"
[ Cheers and applause ]
"I've had enough of her capers."
[ Laughter ]
Boooooo!
[ Audience booing ]
"Boo! You didn't like my capers joke?!"
But that clip is such a perfect microcosm of this entire ordeal.
Entitled, powerful men think everyone else
owes them an apology for having the audacity
to held them accountable for their actions.
They think that being born to elite status in society
means you earned that status,
and they're furious at any attempt to take it away.
That's why Trump keeps bringing up the fact
that Kavanaugh went to Yale,
although he doesn't always have his facts right.
-You know, he said that really what he was focused on
was trying to be number one in the class at Yale.
To me, that was so believable.
I understand college very well,
and I understand being number-one in your class,
and I understand a lot of things.
I think he was number one in his class at Yale.
He was number one in his law school at Yale.
He was, I believe, number one at Yale.
Is that a correct statement?
-No, it's not.
[ Laughter ]
And I have to say, as a favor,
you should probably steer clear of asking,
"Is that a correct statement?" when you're talking.
For one, we know you don't care what the answer is.
And, also, it would really slow down
the momentum at your rallies.
"We've accomplished more than any administration ever.
Is that a correct statement?" [ Laughter ]
"It's not?
What about the one before it? Not that, either?
Have any of them been correct? Not one?
What about when I said it's great to be in West Virginia?
This is Mississippi?"
[ Laughter ]
-Also, can we go back to this for a second?
-I understand college very well.
-"I understand college very well."
Sounds like something Jack Black would say in a movie
about a bunch of middle-aged dudes who try to join a frat.
"I understand college, and if we're gonna fit in,
we have go to parties and scream at the top of our lungs..."
-I like beer.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-What we are witnessing right now
is a cultural struggle over how power works.
There's a set of privileged people
who are accustomed to being insulated
from the consequences of their actions
and they want to keep it that way.
That's why they set up such a sham process.
No one who behaves the way Kavanaugh behaved
during his testimony should be on the Supreme Court.
And if you vote for him, you should...
-Boo yourself.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]