-Donald Trump is sharpening
his attacks against one of his likely opponents
for the GOP nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,
even as prosecutors in New York indicate
that they are closer than ever to indicting Trump
and members of a Georgia grand jury
say their investigation of Trump could be massive.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ]
Trump and DeSantis have both been hitting the campaign trail,
even though DeSantis has not
officially announced that he's running yet.
But I mean, you can tell he's running.
For one thing, he seems to be wearing suits
that actually fit him, now,
instead of whatever the hell's going on here.
[ Laughter ]
He looks like he's cheating in a chess tournament.
[ Laughter ]
Look, I get it. We've all been there.
You got a formal event, you forget to buy a suit,
you rifle through your closet at the last minute
and you find an old jacket that doesn't fit anymore
and you end up looking like a cat standing on its hind legs.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Been there.
But DeSantis gearing up for a run
also means he's attracted the bloodshot Eye of Sauron,
[ Laughter ] his main rival, Donald Trump, who's been attacking DeSantis
on the campaign trail and elsewhere.
In fact, Trump posted a pretty remarkable video this week,
where he basically said DeSantis was a failure
and the only reason people like Florida
is because it's sunny there.
-For those of you that didn't notice,
Florida was doing great long before Ron DeSanctis got there.
[ Laughter ] People are fleeing from New York to Florida, and other places,
because of high taxes and out of control crime.
It's really bad.
[ Laughter ] Not because of the governor --
thank you, Mr. President, for doing that --
but it's not because of the governor.
Florida was doing fantastically.
You had a governor named Rick Scott
who did a very good job.
Even Charlie Crist, a Democrat, did a good job,
and he had very good numbers.
Sunshine and ocean are very alluring.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-He sounds like a '60s radical,
explaining how two women tricked him into joining a cult.
[ Laughter ] [ Hippie voice ] Sunshine --
Sunshine and Ocean were very alluring, man.
[ Laughter and applause ]
They told me my chakra's aligned with theirs.
Next thing I knew, my bank account was empty
and I was scrubbing the maharishi's toilet.
[ Laughter ] Still, man, I wouldn't trade those times for anything.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Donald Trump.
Everything people like about Florida
was in place before Ron DeSantis.
He didn't do something magical and suddenly convince people
they should move to a warmer climate,
with beaches, golf courses, theme parks, low taxes,
alligators on meth.
[ Laughter ] If you think people living
in New York were saying,
"There's too many books around here.
I want to go to a state where there's less to read."
[ Laughter ]
But that video is such a funny preview
of how Trump is going to tear into all of his opponents.
He's already so mad at DeSantis, he's praising
the former governor of Florida Charlie Crist
[ Laughter ] for doing a better job than DeSantis.
Soon, Trump's going to be so desperate to attack
his fellow Republicans, he's going to endorse Obama.
[ Laughter ] [ As Trump ] You know,
you know where else has sunshine and ocean?
[ Laughter ] Hawaii, home to my good friend Barack Obama.
He was born there.
[ Laughter ] He was born in Hawaii.
He has the birth certificate and every-- I've seen it.
Beautiful birth certificate, beautiful.
[ Laughter and applause ] Gold leaf.
Held it in my hands.
Obama -- great man, great man.
Good at basketball. He tried to teach poor Ron how
to shoot a three-pointer, but Ron couldn't
raise his arms above his head. So sad.
[ Laughter and applause ]
So sad.
There's plenty more to attack DeSantis on
because, as we've said before, DeSantis is a weird guy,
but not as weird as Trump, which is his main problem.
If you're a GOP voter who likes weird, Trump's your guy.
But if you're normal -- if you like normal,
DeSantis is a little too weird.
He stands weird. He wears those little, weird white boots.
[ Laughter ] And now --
And now there's this new story about his weird eating habits.
[ Laughter and applause ]
[ Laughter and ohhs ]
You ate pudding with your fingers?
[ Laughter ]
That's not very DeSanitary.
[ Laughter and applause ]
You don't get to use your fingers to eat pudding!
Here are the rules.
If you have pudding, but you don't have a spoon,
then you don't have pudding.
[ Laughter and applause ]
I've never thought I'd say this about anyone,
but you should eat more like Donald Trump.
[ Laughter ]
If you were in a plane next to a guy
who was finger-blasting Swiss Miss
[ Laughter ] and asked to move
and the flight attendant said, "The only open seat's next
to a dude eating KFC with a knife and fork,"
you'd say, "Yeah, I guess, in this case,
it beats the pudding dude."
[ Laughter and applause ]
So, there's a lot of material for Trump to work with.
The only thing Trump hasn't nailed down yet is the nickname.
I mean, I took Ron DeSanitary, so that one's gone.
Sorry, dude. [ Laughter ]
Trump's been calling him Ron DeSanctimonious,
which doesn't exactly roll right off the tongue,
so, then he shortens it.
He shortens DeSanctimonious to make it easier to say.
-Florida was doing great long before Ron DeSanctis got there.
[ Laughter ] So just remember, Florida was doing really well
long before Ron DeSanctis got there.
-So, he shortened Sanctimonious to Sanctis.
Makes total sense.
Smart people always shorten long words like that.
[ Laughter ]
I remember when I got my appendix looked at,
the doctor came in and said,
"Alright, looks like we're going to have to do
a little appendy, but don't worry.
[ Laughter ] If anything happens, we'll just shock you
with defibbies."
[ Laughter ] I don't know
if he was a good doctor or not
because I didn't stay!
[ Laughter ]
So, Trump's decided to go after DeSantis
before DeSantis even gets in the race
and the most important media organization
in the conservative movement, Fox News, seems torn about it.
On the one hand, you have hosts, like Brian Kilmeade,
who are cozying up to DeSantis,
but also seem impressed by what they claim
is Trump's ability to stay on message
after a run of bad press.
-He also is on a bit of a roll
since he went and visited East Palestine,
stopped having lunch with white supremacists,
and has got a very disciplined message.
-I can't argue with the logic.
It's like saying, "Hannibal Lecter
has been looking svelte since he stopped eating people."
[ Laughter ]
Also, I love that they're still waiting,
all these years later, for a more disciplined
Donald Trump to magically appear.
The man's 76. 76-year-olds don't suddenly change,
unless they start taking Cialis.
[ Laughter ] You know, after he started taking Cialis,
Grandpa bought a fedora and joined a band.
[ Laughter ]
But, of course, the big question looming over the GOP primary is
whether Trump will get indicted.
He's facing multiple investigations
in various jurisdictions, at this point,
including state and federal investigations
of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
And I'm as tired as anyone
of hearing the probe is intensifying
and the walls are closing in on Trump.
It's like waiting around for Sam and Diane
to finally kiss or, you know,
a better reference, for people under 50.
[ Laughter ] But in New York, prosecutors are looking
into Trump's hush money payments from 2016
and that case might be the closest to an actual indictment.
-Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen
making his second appearance tomorrow
before a New York grand jury.
He's the key witness in a case
investigating a hush money payment
to adult film star Stormy Daniels,
that payment made just days before the 2016 election.
Prosecutors handling the case are signaling
that a criminal indictment for Trump could be coming soon.
-Man, it would be wild
if that's the thing that brought Trump down.
The guy was impeached twice,
colluded with one foreign country,
tried to extort another country to interfere
in a presidential election on his behalf,
and then fomented a violent coup to stay in power,
but the thing that could finally sink him
is paying off a porn star
not to tell everyone about his weird penis,
when everyone already assumed it looked weird.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Talk about throwing bad money after good.
[ Laughter and applause ]
But Trump apparently has a new lawyer to handle this case,
a guy whose real name is Joe Tacopina.
I did not make that up.
I certainly would never use it as a joke.
Like if someone asked me what Stormy Daniels said about Trump,
I would never say, "He's got a little Tacopina."
I wouldn't do that.
[ Laughter and applause ]
But Tacopina went on MSNBC this week
to defend Trump's lie that he didn't know
about the hush payment with Stormy Daniels
and the interview got contentious.
-One of the top trial attorneys out of New York,
Joe Tacopina, is defending Donald Trump
and our guests right now, live on "The Beat," is...
Trump defense lawyer Joe Tacopina.
[ Laughter ] If all of what you say
is true... -It is.
[ Laughter ] -...then why was Trump hiding it
and lying about it at the time?
And I'll play that for your response.
-Mm-hmm. -He lied about it.
We all know that. Take a look. -When you say he lied --
-Take a look. -Let's see.
-Mr. President, did...
-Ari, that is --
if that's what you're going to consider a lie --
A lie, to me, Is something material,
under oath, in a procedural. -I didn't say perjury.
I said a lie. -Yeah, but that's not a lie.
That's called -- -That's not a lie?
-Here's why it's not a lie.
-That's not a lie? -Here's why it's not a lie.
Could you put your paper -- -"Did you know about this?
-Put the paper down. [ Laughter ]
Let me answer. -Did you know about this?"
"No, I don't." -We don't need that.
-[ As Tacopina ] Hey, oh, what's with the paper?
[ Laughter and applause ]
Hey! I thought we were friends.
Come on, we don't need that.
[ Laughter ]
You take out paper, I got to take out scissors.
Next thing you know,
you're eating your pudding with only two fingers.
[ Laughter and applause ]
As we mentioned, there are other investigations of Trump,
including one in Georgia,
where prosecutors are investigating
Trump's attempt to interfere in the vote count
and are weighing whether to bring charges.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently spoke
to anonymous members of the grand jury,
who said the findings were potentially explosive.
One juror said...
And another said...
That is quite the tease.
When I read that, I was so shocked,
I stood up straight like Ron DeSantis.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Now, if all that's true, then I personally feel like
it might be better to charge the guy
who fomented a violent coup to overthrow American democracy
with coup stuff, first, instead of the hush money stuff.
I'm not saying Trump shouldn't
face legal consequences in that case, too.
I just think it might be better for democracy
if we held Trump accountable for the coup,
than if we charged him for paying someone not
to talk about his little...
-Tacopina.
[ Laughter and applause ] -This
has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ]