-The Justice Department subpoenaed
Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows,
and Meadows is reportedly complying with that subpoena,
making him the highest-ranking Trump official so far
to respond to a federal subpoena
in the criminal investigation of the attempted coup
on January 6th.
There are also bombshell new text messages
in a very bizarre scandal
involving former NFL quarterback and Trump supporter Brett Favre
that reveal just how corrupt
the conservative movement has become.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
You know, it took like two full years,
but it really seems like the Justice Department
is finally kicking it into gear
when it comes to these Trump investigations.
They're seizing phones, sending out dozens of subpoenas,
and executing search warrants.
I don't know what changed.
Merrick Garland used to seem like one of those
movie detectives on cruise control
because he was only a month away from collecting a pension,
and now he's like a renegade cop on a Harley in a leather jacket
who kicks in doors and holds perps out windows
while hissing, "You can either tell me what happened
or your brains can tell the pavement."
[ Laughter ]
The point is, the DOJ's Trump investigation
seems to be rapidly intensifying.
For example, yesterday, we told you a...
well, a truly heartwarming story about a delightful young man
named Mike Lindell, who had his phone seized by the FBI
while he was at a Hardee's drive-through.
As he explained in a video, the FBI agents at the scene
told him not to talk about it, but he did anyway.
-The FBI came after me and took my phone.
They surrounded me at a Hardee's
and took my phone that I run all my business, everything with.
Um, they could've just...
What they've done is weaponized the FBI.
It's disgusting. I don't have a computer.
Everything I do off that phone.
Everything was on there, and, um...
And they told me not to tell anybody.
Here's an order not to. "Don't tell anybody."
Okay. I won't. [ Chuckles ]
Well, I am. So, there you go.
-Well, that is just the kind of recklessness
I would expect from a 61-year-old man
who eats at Hardee's.
[ Laughter ]
Also, I doubt that paper says the words,
"Don't tell anybody."
It's an order from the FBI,
not a note passed in fifth grade.
I bet that piece of paper isn't even an order from the FBI.
In fact, if you zoom in, you can see
it's actually just a letter from Hardee's that reads...
But also, when we first played this clip yesterday,
there was a very revealing detail
I glossed over and want to revisit.
-Everything I do off that phone.
Everything was on there.
-It was? Well, then, I guess...
jackpot, FBI!
[ Laughter ]
Usually you'd need to raid multiple offices and homes
and sift through every box,
closet, and drawer you can find for hours.
But not with Mike Lindell.
[As Lindell] Yeah, I keep it all on my Motorola flip --
texts, call logs,
lists of crimes both completed and planned,
in all my pictures.
I don't trust the cloud, or any clouds,
'cause they look like big fluffy pillows,
but in reality, they're filled with...
da air!
[Normal voice] Now, you might...
you might be wondering which of the many
Trump investigations the Lindell raid
was specifically related to.
Well, it's a very bizarre and complicated story.
But basically, federal agents apparently wanted to know more
about Lindell's potential connections to a plot concocted
by a pro-Trump clerk in Mesa County, Colorado,
named Tina Peters,
who was indicted earlier this year for election tampering,
among other things. Basically, Peters wanted
to prove that the 2020 election was tampered with,
and in the process, she herself allegedly tampered
with election equipment by breaching voting machines.
Imagine being wily enough to impersonate an IT consultant
and then dumb enough to be in cahoots with Mike Lindell.
"Mike, it's Tina. The feds are on to me.
But don't worry -- I've encrypted each
and every one of our communications
and put them behind multiple firewalls."
[as Lindell] Good to hear, Tina!
I got everything you ever said to me on the one phone,
and also, I put in my five
under "Crime Tina."
[ Laughter ]
[Normal voice] So, at this point,
one can only assume the Justice Department already
has at its disposal a wealth of information
related to the coup attempt on January 6th,
the various figures involved in it,
and the machinations that led up to it,
especially after the newest revelations
we learned last night that Trump's former chief of staff,
Mark Meadows, has also been subpoenaed
and has responded to that subpoena.
-We are learning that former
Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
has complied with a subpoena from the Justice Department's
investigation into events surrounding January 6th.
So, this makes him the highest-ranking Trump official,
Trump administration official that's known to have responded
to a subpoena in this federal investigation.
-So far, Mark Meadows, the president--
former President Trump's chief of staff,
has complied with the DOJ subpoena
by turning over documents, the same documents
that he turned over to the January 6 committee.
-Wow, even Trump's former chief of staff
is turning over documents now.
And this is a guy, by the way,
who is, by all accounts, always on his phones.
In July, he was spotted walking around D.C.
while reporters shouted questions at him
about the January 6 hearing, and for the most part,
refused to look up from his phone.
He looks like me when my kids are demanding
to go to the beach. "Yeah, sure, sure.
We can go to the beach. I just need to set
my fantasy lineup and check out the new memes.
Then I want to see some Instagram ads
from sneaker companies that only exist on Instagram ads."
[ Laughter ]
Of course, the only thing stranger than Meadows'
refusal to look up from his phone
was the fact that he was wearing a fleece outdoors in July.
Do you know how hot it was in July?
It was so hot that during one show
I wore a sweater and nothing else.
You just couldn't see because of the desk.
Although it was a little jarring
when I got up to greet the guests.
Now, you might remember Meadows
as the guy who was in many ways at the center
of the attempted coup, who, among other things,
arranged various coup-related meetings
and sent insane conspiracy theories
about vote tampering with the Justice Department.
Meadows was also, according to the people around him,
extremely checked out
in the days leading up to the insurrection.
Former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson
recalled after Rudy Giuliani
told her about the plan to march to the Capitol,
she asked Meadows about that plan,
and Meadows once again did not even look up from his phone.
-After Mr. Giuliani had left the campus that evening,
I went back up to our office and I found Mr. Meadows
in his office on the couch.
He was scrolling through his phone.
I remember leaning against the doorway and saying,
"Just had an interesting conversation with Rudy, Mark.
It sounds like we're going to go to the Capitol."
He didn't look up from his phone
and said something to the effect of,
"There's a lot going on, Cass, but I don't know.
Things might get real, real bad on January 6th."
-Man, this dude was checked out like a substitute teacher
showing his class "Amadeus" on laserdisc
the day before summer break.
"Hey, Mr. Meadows. We gonna learn anything today?"
"You're gonna learn what happens to the human spirit
when you're forced to toil in the shadow
of a childish show-off."
[ Laughter ]
"Also, you're all getting an F!
And F. Murray Abraham, that is."
[ Laughter and scattered applause ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Oh, I'll wait till it gets what it deserves.
[ Laughter ]
Although in fairness, that is probably the one and only moment
from all the January 6 hearings that I related to.
If I had sold my soul to Donald Trump
and was facing a lifetime of criminal exposure
and historical disgrace,
I, too, would check the [bleep] out.
I'd have one of those giant Costco containers
of cheese balls, except it'd be filled with Xanax.
So virtually everyone in Trump's orbit, from his chief of staff
to his weird pillow friend, is under investigation.
Now, if it feels to you
like every story you hear about the Republican Party
and conservative movement is about the deep rot of corruption
at the heart of GOP institutions,
that's because it's true.
And to drive the point home,
there's a truly insane story
that we're learning more about this week
that captures the fundamental truth
about just how corrupt and morally bankrupt
conservative governance has become.
The story involves retired quarterback
and dungarees pitchman Brett Favre,
millions of dollars that were supposed to help poor people
in the country's poorest state,
and a shadowy deal to build a volleyball facility.
-New court documents filed this week include text messages
that appear to show Mississippi's former governor
helping NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre
secure millions to build a volleyball facility --
money that came from funds meant for needy families
in one of the nation's poorest states.
-The texts appear to show the former governor,
Phil Bryant, helping Favre
secure millions to build a volleyball facility
at his alma mater, University of Southern Mississippi.
And mind you, his daughter also played volleyball there.
Now, the money was allegedly earmarked, though,
for family welfare programs at the state.
-Again, this is federal money for welfare
for poor Mississippians,
going to a volleyball facility
that Brett Favre's daughter is going to play in.
The woman who ran the nonprofit, Nancy New, reportedly coughed up
$4 million in misused welfare money.
And when that was not enough, she then allegedly paid Favre --
Brett Favre, millionaire Brett Favre --
an additional $1.1 million personally to him,
supposedly for radio ads
paid for out of a fund for welfare recipients.
-Now, remember, this is the same state, Mississippi,
that's also been facing a disastrous water crisis
affecting the majority-Black city of Jackson.
And yet the state's Republicans are so cartoonishly corrupt
they stole money set aside for poor people
and gave it to a multi- millionaire NFL quarterback.
I think as punishment,
from this point forward, Favre should not be remembered
for his 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers,
but for his one season with the New York Jets.
I'm sorry, Brett.
Actions have consequences.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Although it should be noted,
they did win the Super Bowl that year.
I mean, they went 9-7,
but that's like a Super Bowl for the Jets.
[ Laughter ]
You know, sometimes we have international viewers
who leave comments for me
and they say, "We really don't like these Jets jokes,
because obviously we don't get them."
So just let me explain. It's gonna take a minute,
and I apologize for taking time out of the day.
Football is a sport.
The Jets are [bleep] at football.
[ Laughter ]
But the craziest part of this scandal is that
Favre turns out to be just as dumb
as all the other corrupt weirdos in Trump's orbit.
Because as the deal was happening,
he apparently wrote a text message explaining
that he was concerned people would find out it was happening.
-Texts show Favre was worried about how it might look.
He wrote, "If you were to pay me,
is there any way the media can find out
where it came from and how much?"
-Yeah.
Yeah, dude, there's a way.
[ Laughter ]
I love that he's asking
if it could ever go public
via a text that eventually went public.
Was the next text...
This is the rot and the moral bankruptcy
of conservative governments at its core.
This is the same conservative movement
that's hell-bent on dismantling democracy
and installing themselves as unelected rulers.
And apparently, while they were all engaged
in various scandals and criminal schemes,
they were texting each other about those scandals
and criminal schemes and telling each other...
-Don't tell anybody.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪
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