-The Justice Department
searched President Biden's home over the weekend
and discovered a few more classified items.
The news has prompted Republicans,
who dismissed the much larger cache of stolen documents
that Donald Trump refused to return to criticize Biden.
And, on top of that, Republican leaders,
like Kevin McCarthy, are also refusing to take action
against serial liar George Santos,
or, you know, whatever his real name is.
[ Laughter ] For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ]
You know, guys, after the November midterms,
things were looking pretty good for old Joe Biden.
He had the best midterm performance
of a sitting president in decades,
he'd scored a string of major legislative victories,
gas prices were down, inflation was slowing,
unemployment was low, and he was hitting
his highest approval ratings in at least a year.
In fact, one recent poll found
that Biden's net job approval rating was now positive,
with 47% approval, the 45% disapproval.
So, it was positive, but like barely.
[ Laughter ] That's the divided America we live in now.
[ As Biden ] I'm not saying I'm popular, but 50% of Americans agree.
If you round up!
[ Laughter and applause ]
Anyway, the point is, Joe Biden was flying high,
although, I hesitate to say he was flying,
given that we all know how that goes.
[ Laughter and awws ]
I'm sorry, but we will never stop using that clip!
[ Laughter ]
I thought it was physically impossible
to trip up the stairs that many times.
Did Kevin McCallister
"Home Alone" those stairs in olive oil?
[ Laughter ] Although, that shouldn't be an excuse.
After the second fall, even Marv would stop
[ Laughter ] and reassess the situation.
So, Biden was riding high and then, of course,
the classified documents story happened,
and, now, his home has been searched
by the Justice Department, which turned up
even more classified items.
-ABC News has learned authorities spent
nearly 13 hours on Friday combing
through the president's Wilmington, Delaware, home.
-The FBI discovered six additional classified documents.
-He still had classified documents
from his time in the Senate?! [ Laughter ]
Biden's first year in the Senate was 1973.
What were these classified documents all about,
the government's top secret eight-track technology?
[ Laughter ] [ As Biden ] Check this out.
I swiped these coded messages from the Pentagon.
"Don't fear the Reaper."
[ Laughter ] What in --
What in God's name could that mean?
[ Laughter ]
I have less trouble believing
that Biden had classified documents
from his time as vice president.
He didn't exactly give off the elder statesman vibe
during his eight years with Obama.
I mean, does this look like
[ Laughter ] the face of a guy
who is serious about document security?
He looks like he's about to roll a joint
with a piece of paper marked top secret.
[ Laughter ] You guys, it is so funny to look back at that.
I definitely thought that was the vibe of a dude
in his last job ever.
[ Laughter ] Turns out --
Turns out he was interning.
[ Laughter ]
Also, investigators were at Biden's home for 13 hours.
I have nothing to hide in my apartment,
but if you told me someone looked for 13 hours,
I would definitely think, "Oh, [bleep]."
[ Laughter ]
So, again, this isn't great for Biden.
He shouldn't have had those documents.
But the revelations have led to some very silly punditry,
claiming Biden is, somehow,
in the same position as Donald Trump.
-You heard from the Republicans.
They see a moment, Erica,
that, you know, certainly,
for the White House and for President Biden,
who are claiming to have the moral high ground,
they see that that is not so anymore.
-Do you fear that, because of that,
the current president has kind of lost
the high ground on this notion
of classified information being where it shouldn't be?
-It simply has taken away
the moral high ground of this presidency.
-Okay, first of all, Biden can still reach the high ground.
He just stumbles a bit on the way there.
[ Laughter ] Guys, again,
you need to be ready, at any moment,
[ Laughter ] for the stairs video.
I cannot stress this enough.
We're not going to stop. Not just because it's funny
or because Biden is the most powerful person in the world,
but because it is scientifically fascinating.
[ Laughter ]
How do you keep tripping while also moving upward?
[ Laughter ]
If you showed this video to Isaac Newton,
he'd burn all his notebooks and start over.
[ Laughter ]
But that was almost certainly the last time
we will play that clip today.
[ Laughter ]
We've shown it twice.
[ Laughter ]
If I know anything about comedy...
[ Laughter ]
...it's the rule that twice is more than enough!
[ Laughter ]
Now, as we've said before, and we'll say again,
there's no equivalence between Biden and Trump.
Yes, it's bad that they both had classified documents,
but Trump consistently lied about the documents he had;
told his staff to lie; defied multiple requests
and a subpoena for the documents;
moved the documents around; and repeatedly changed the story
about why he had the documents, in the first place.
Biden shouldn't have had the documents,
but he never claimed they were his
and he definitely never claimed
he had secretly declassified them using his mind.
-You had said, on Truth Social, a number of times,
you did declassify. -I did declassify, yes.
-Okay. Is there a process? What was your process
to declassify? -It doesn't have to be
a process, as I understand it.
You know, there's different people say different things,
but as I understand, there doesn't have to be.
If you're the president of the United States,
you can declassify just by saying it's declassified,
even by thinking about it.
[ Laughter ] -That is for sure
Donald Trump's dream,
[ Laughter ] that thinking about doing something
is the same as actually doing it.
Donald, did you get Eric a birthday present?
[ As Trump ] I did something as good,
some might even say even better --
I thought about it.
[ Laughter ] I thought --
I thought about a big motorcycle,
which I think Eric would love,
if that's the sort of thing he's into.
I'll admit, I do not talk to him much.
[ Laughter ] A great big, loud motorcycle with a bow on the handlebars.
So, I think we can all agree that,
if I'm not Dad of the year, I'm at least Top 5.
[ Laughter ]
Then last week, Trump changed his tune, yet again,
and claimed he had taken
empty classified folders as a memento
and that the feds, who he called Gestapo
and "Trump Hating Marxist Thugs" --
you know, like you do when you're innocent --
[ Laughter ] had possibly planted classified documents
inside those empty folders.
-Quoting, now..
-Who takes home empty folders as a cool keepsake?
[ Laughter ]
Also, what 76-year-old says
"'cool' keepsake"? [ Laughter ]
[ As Trump ] You guys should come over later
and check out my cool keepsakes, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
I don't want to give anything away, but here's a hint --
folders!
[ Laughter and applause ]
[ Cheering ]
Yeah, no, I took -- I took all the good stuff out.
[ Laughter ]
Just an empty folder.
You guys want pizza?
I got empty boxes.
[ Laughter ]
Here's the difference between Biden and Trump --
they're like two guys who got pulled over for erratic driving.
Biden immediately rolls down the window,
hands over his license and registration,
passes the breathalyzer, and says,
"Sorry, officer, but in my defense,
even stone cold sober, I do this --"
[ Laughter and applause ] And that's
what we call the rule of threes!
[ Electronic voice ]
[ Vuvuzela blasts ]
[ Heavy metal guitar sting plays ]
-♪ Oh, yeah ♪
[ Laughter and applause ]
-Trump, on the other hand, is the guy
who refuses to pull over, gets chased down,
goes over those one-way spikes in a parking lot,
blows out his tire, drives for another mile
[ Laughter ] on sparking rims, crashes into a duck pond,
gives cocaine and a gun to a duck,
[ Laughter ] and says if anyone asks, "This is yours!"
Tries to swim away, even though the pond
is shallow enough to stand; gets to the other side,
[ Laughter ] where the police are waiting for him, and says,
"Oh, I didn't realize I was living in Soviet Russia."
[ Laughter ]
Again, it's possible to hold
two thoughts in our heads at once.
Biden shouldn't have had those documents,
but also, comparing these two situations is ludicrous,
which is why Republicans suddenly find themselves
in the awkward position of trying
to defend their prior statements,
dismissing the Trump scandal,
while also hyperventilating about the Biden documents.
And, in particular, they seem to be focused
on one very specific aspect of the Trump search.
-My concern is how there's such a discrepancy
in how former President Trump was treated --
by raiding Mar-A-Lago, by getting the security cameras,
by taking pictures of documents on the floor,
by going through Melania's closet.
-There's no armed FBI raid of Jill's closet,
the first lady's first closet,
as they did with Melania Trump's closet.
-My point had been -- and remains --
the attorney general
had several steps he could go through
before he's playing around
in Melania's closet. -But it went --
-Are they going to rifle through Jill Biden's closet,
like they did to Melania?
-They raided President Trump's Mar-A-Lago home,
going through Melania's closet and drawers
in a despicable manner.
-It's like they realize they can't defend Trump anymore,
so they pivoted to defending Melania.
"How can they do that to this poor woman?
Isn't it bad enough she's married to Donald Trump?"
[ Laughter ] Now let's compare the GOP's fevered reaction
over Biden's documents to their much more cautious approach
to the many scandals of a congressman
[ Laughing ] supposedly name George Santos.
[ Laughter ] As a reminder, Santos has lied
about virtually every aspect of his life and résumé,
even down to his name and his clothes.
-It seems like every day we're learning something else
about George Santos' life that simply isn't true.
Now, he's being accused of stealing funds
from a homeless veteran's dying dog
and lying about his mother being a 9/11 survivor.
-There's a staggering amount of fantastical tales
George Santos has told through the years.
Saying he caught a severe early case of COVID,
even though he was on TV four days later,
or claiming to be a "proud American Jew"
whose parents fled Hitler,
even though he's actually Catholic
and has no Jewish ancestors,
as far as we can tell from the records.
Said he owned 13 different properties,
when he's never been a landlord.
-This is the same George Santos who said he worked
at Goldman Sachs, which was a lie;
who said he worked at Citigroup, which he didn't,
meaning that, too, was a lie.
It's the same George Santos who lied
about the high school he went to in New York
and the college he said he graduated from.
He said it was Baruch College and he got a degree
in economics and finance. He didn't.
-More questions are being raised
about New York Congressman George Santos,
including if that's even his real name.
An ex-roommate
of the freshman congressman had this to say --
-I've always known him as Anthony Devolder.
[ Laughter and applause ] I've never known him as George Santos.
-Also allegedly stolen by George,
according to these two men,
this Burberry scarf
[ Laughter and applause ] that George wore
to a pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C.
-That's right, he stole a Burberry scarf.
Even worse, he stole it from...
-Melania's closet.
[ Laughter and applause ] In fact,
not only did he wear a stolen scarf,
he wore it at a Stop the Steal rally
[ Laughter ] on January 5th.
This guy's lies range from his job to his education,
to his name, to the clothes he wore.
We have no idea who he really is.
He could be anyone.
-Yeah, Seth, he could be anyone.
-Wally, is that your real hair?
-Oh, what, does it look different?
Sorry, I can't see anything without my glasses.
[ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
[ Cheering ]
Uh --
By the way, Seth, remind me to give you back your scarf.
-Wally!
[ Laughter ] Or should I say, George!
Or should I say, Anthony! [ Laughter ]
Anyway, Santos returned to New York this weekend,
where he was greeted by reporters,
and he told them he couldn't answer their questions
because the information was classified.
-I'm focused on serving the American people
and I'm super excited of it.
Yes, I have, plenty!
I just -- I went --
I went to D.C. last night for a meeting
and I'm back here today. I was here all week
and it's been fabulous serving the people.
That's classified.
[ Laughter ] -Oh, it's classified?
Well, good news -- classified now means
you can take it home and just show it to whoever you want.
[ Laughter ]
So, Santos is refusing to answer questions
about as many scandals and, yet, the House speaker,
Kevin McCarthy, is standing by him.
-Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker,
indicated that he was not going to take any action
on George Santos, indicating, instead,
this would go through the House ethics process
and then they will decide what to do moving forward.
-The voters elected him to serve.
If there is a concern and he has to go
through the Ethics, let him move through that.
-Are you going to take any action
against him at this point?
Are any of these allegations acceptable to you?
-What are the charges against him?
-Well, I mean, he's -- -Is there a charge against him?
You know, in America today,
you're innocent until proven guilty.
-[ As McCarthy ] In America today, you're innocent until proven guilty.
Now, has anyone seen my Burberry scarf?
[ Laughter ] Santos!
That's what happens when you become the party of Trump --
you attract scammers like Santos,
who seemed to have lied about virtually everything,
from claiming he was a star volleyball player
to claiming he worked at Goldman Sachs,
to claiming he served as...
-President of the United States.
[ Laughter ] -This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheering and applause ]