-You know, it's difficult to keep up with the number
of Trump aides and officials who have been fired or forced out.
Many have moved on, several are under indictment,
and some of those we think have left
haven't really gone anywhere at all.
For a look at where they are, it's time for "The Check In."
♪♪
[ Bell dings ]
Throughout the campaign,
President Trump constantly bragged about knowing
the best people, and then promised to hire those people
once he got into the White House.
-I know the best people. I know the best managers.
I know the best dealmakers.
I know people that will make us so strong.
I know guys that are so good.
I put people in that have great ability.
But the cabinet, we're gonna have all the best people.
We got the smartest -- I know the smartest, I know the best.
I know the best negotiators.
I know the ones that are overrated.
I know the ones you never heard of
that are better than all of them.
But we're gonna use our best people.
-You know what I don't think you use? The best thesaurus.
[ Laughter ] You use "best" so much,
you're basically President Kenny Bania.
-I told you Mendy's had the best pea soup.
The best, Jerry. The best.
[ Laughter ] -And when Trump wasn't...
[ Cheers and applause ]
And when Trump wasn't bragging about how his people
were the best, he was bragging about how awful they were.
-I'm going to get these great business leaders.
I will get these great business leaders.
These great, great people.
And I have to say some of them are not nice people.
Do you agree? Who cares? Right? Who cares?
Some of them you don't want to have dinner with.
They are vicious, brutal, horrible human beings.
Who cares? Who the hell cares?
Some are nice, but some are terrible people.
-Really? [ Laughter ]
Really covering your bases there.
[ Imitating Trump ] "These people are the best
"and also the worst. We got geniuses, business giants,
also we got some murderers." [ Laughter ]
"We got people who take their shoes off on airplanes.
It's a mixed bag." [ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] But I have to give Trump credit here,
because he did warn us that he was going to hire
some vicious, horrible people, and he followed through.
And then, as expected, some of those awful people got fired
for their awfulness, but they didn't exactly go away.
Take former Navy SEAL and surrogate
for the Trump campaign, Carl Higbie.
Higbie was appointed to be the face of an agency called
the Corporation for National & Community Service.
His job was to...
Basically, he was doing PR for people who help people.
Super easy job. But less than six months into that job,
he had to resign after CNN uncovered
racist and homophobic comments
Higbie had made several years ago.
Now where did he make these comments?
Did he make them in a whispered conversation in a crowded bar?
A message board full of fellow racists?
No, he made them fully on the radio.
[ Laughter ] Wow, not sure that's
the best way to jack up your book sales.
[ Laughter ] "Gays, Muslims, Mexicans,
"and Rhode Island can go to hell.
Everyone else, check out my new book!"
[ Laughter ]
And while you're at it, pick up Carl's other books,
"Chicken Soup for the Soulless" and "Fifty Shades of Cray."
[ Laughter ] Also --
[ Cheers and applause ]
You know you're insane when you go after Rhode Island.
[ Laughter ]
"Rhode Island's been pulling the wool over our eyes for too long.
Face it, you're just Connecticut's foreskin!"
[ Audience groans ]
[ Laughter ]
So after those comments came out,
Higbie was fired from his job.
So that's the end for him, right?
You can't come back from that. Well, not exactly.
-A former Navy SEAL and Trump administration staffer who
resigned after racist, sexist, homophobic remarks
that he had made on the radio were exposed
has now been hired by a pro-Trump group --
a pro-Trump group whose leaders Trump had dinner with
just last week.
-He was fired and then promptly hired by the political Super PAC
that's working with the President
which sends a message about what they view as
tolerable and not tolerable.
-So Higbie did something terrible,
but instead of getting rid of him,
they just moved him to a new job.
To put it in Catholic terms, he got moved to another diocese.
[ Laughter ]
"This is Father Pat.
He just moved here from Boston, Akron, and Omaha."
"Kids, get in the car."
[ Laughter ]
And not only was Higbie hired by a pro-Trump group,
but he's still also still...
So the guy who repeatedly said racist things about black people
is still on the board of a group
run by the National Diversity Coalition.
That's like Charlie Sheen teaching D.A.R.E.
[ Laughter ] "So remember, kids,
if someone offers you drugs, you point them my way."
[ Laughter ]
So despite all of his horrible remarks,
Higbie is still working for Trump,
and he's not the only one.
Just a few months after Higbie resigned,
Trump's personal aide, 28-year-old John McEntee,
was abruptly forced out as well.
-A personal aide to President Trump escorted out
of the White House under a cloud of controversy.
-Johnny McEntee,
President Trump's personal assistant, his body man,
abruptly forced out of his post
and escorted off the White House grounds Monday.
NBC News confirming McEntee is under investigation
by the Secret Service for serious financial crimes.
McEntee's departure strips the President of another
of his closest and longest serving aides.
-Side note, buddy, if that's your office,
you don't need to put on a tie.
[ Laughter ]
That's like driving the bulldozer at a landfill
in a top hat and tails.
[ Laughter ]
Now an investigation found that McEntee's gambling habits
had posed a security risk, but thanks to President Trump,
he was able to bounce back almost immediately.
-Johnny McEntee's very much remaining
in the President's orbit because
just minutes after this news broke of his departure,
the Trump campaign announced that they had hired him
to work as senior adviser
for those re-election efforts in 2020.
-So he got escorted off the White House grounds
and into a promotion.
That's like getting thrown out of a bar and the bouncer saying,
"Get out and stay out
and come back tomorrow, 'cause you're the manager now!"
[ Laughter ]
Trump keeps recycling these people and others
because he only uses one yardstick to measure employees.
"Are they loyal to me?" And the problem with that is
that the kinds of people who are unquestionably loyal
to an ignorant bigot like Trump
are pretty much always terrible people.
There's no pool of thoughtful and qualified candidates for him
to draw from, because you can't be thoughtful and qualified
and also loyal to a President who is neither.
So despite having been fired or having shamefully resigned
because of racist comments or straight up crimes,
none of these people have really suffered the consequences
you and I probably would have had we made similar mistakes
at such a high profile job, or any job for that matter.
If you have an interview at Chipotle and they say,
"Why do you want to work here?" And you say, "well, I got fired
from Taco Bell for screaming the 'N'-word,"
they will not hire you.
[ Laughter ]
But I know someone who might.
[ Audience groans ] This has been "The Check In."
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Bell dings ]