-As a new poll shows majority support for impeaching
President Trump, Republicans are doing everything
they can to rig the Senate trial in his favor.
For more on this it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
On Friday the House Judiciary Committee approved
two articles of impeachment against Trump,
setting the stage for a vote of the full House this week.
And as CNN reported, Trump is aggravated by the fact
that he's about to become the third
President in history to be impeached.
-We are hearing President Trump is growing increasingly
aggravated over the likelihood that he will be impeached.
A Trump campaign adviser I spoke with earlier today
told me simply, "The coverage bugs him."
-Bugs him?
I don't think bugs is ever the right word for Trump.
He's never just bugged.
He only has two modes -- blind rage or spaced out.
[ Laughter ]
Either screaming like he just ate a fistful of ghost peppers
or looking straight down to the table
like an eighth grader in detention.
Trump's definitely more than bugged
by the impeachment coverage. I mean, look at him.
When he gets angry, he looks like the love child of The Hulk
and an old bean bag chair full of farts.
[ Laughter ]
Also Trump has made it pretty clear
in his recent public statements
that he's more than just bugged by impeachment,
including a rally last week and in the Oval Office on Friday
when he claimed the Democrats
had somehow been trying to impeach him
since before he announced that he was running for President
back in 2015.
-They can't win on election day.
So they're pursuing an illegal, invalid,
and unconstitutional, bull[bleep] impeachment.
And then they announced there was no bias.
No, you know what we're doing, and it's not easy.
A regular President would have been under a table, thumb
in the mouth, saying, "Take me home, Mommy.
This is too tough for me."
I have to tell you, as bad as it is, it meant something.
When you had serious high crimes and misdemeanors.
The impeachment is a hoax.
It's a sham.
It started a long time ago.
Probably before I came down the escalator with the future
First Lady. -Alright, first of all,
what's with all the slurring, man?
Trump's going to be the first
President to get pulled over for a sobriety test
in the middle of one of his rallies.
Can you say the alphabet backwards?
"I can't say it forwards."
Second, don't say I came down the escalator
like you were George Washington crossing the Delaware.
It wasn't noble or cool.
You rode an escalator to announce your campaign
for President like you were at a Macy's
looking for men's underwear.
"I'm running for President.
Also, where do you keep your dumpiest khakis?"
Third and most important, you think Democrats
were secretly plotting to impeach you
before you announced that you were running for President?
How'd that work?
You think President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi
were all in a secret room together saying,
"Okay, you know that famously dumb game show host?
You know, the one who spends most of the time
yelling at Meatloaf?
Well, he's about to ride an escalator
down to announce his campaign.
So here's our plan to bring him down.
We're going to win the popular vote by three million votes.
But then we'll lose the electoral college
because, you know, it's a dumb, antiquated system.
And then we're going to wait three years
until he calls the president of Ukraine
and ask him to dig up dirt on Joe Biden,
who will announce that he's running for President.
And also Rudy Giuliani's going to go on TV
and confess to everything.
That's the plan."
[ Cheers and applause ]
"That is our plan."
Actually, you know, the last part right
there is probably the only thing
they could have predicted right there.
This is just the world we live in now.
The president's a deranged, conspiratorial lunatic
who's fundamentally untethered from reality.
In fact, on Friday, Trump lied
and claimed that his poll numbers
have actually gone up since impeachment began.
-My poll numbers as you know have gone through the roof.
The polls have gone through the roof for Trump.
Because people, especially with independent voters,
and especially in swing states --
I could show you numbers
that nobody's ever seen numbers like this before.
[ Laughter ] -What are you talking about?
"We're getting numbers no one has ever seen?"
"Eleventeen, pleventeen.
Something called a thricks.
That's the first thrick we've ever seen, you guys."
We know Trump is lying because polls
have consistently shown that about half of Americans
want him at least impeached
if not removed from office altogether.
Even a new Fox News poll over the weekend confirmed that.
And it was a poll that surprised
even "Fox & Friends" morning host
Brian Kilmeade, who said this morning
that he was stunned to see how high the number was.
-In the latest Fox News poll, 50% of registered voters
think the President should be impeached
and removed from office,
up one point since October.
Four percent think he should be impeached
but not removed from office.
And 41% do not think he should be impeached at all.
-The Fox poll came out. And I was stunned by this.
It says 50% of the country want the president impeached.
I was stunned to see that that's the number
because I thought things were trending away.
-You know why you thought that?
Because you only listen to Trump.
And you only watch Fox News.
You're like a guy who works at Arby's who eats an actual burger
for the first time and says, "What?
This burger doesn't taste like horse."
[ Laughter ] When Kilmeade saw that poll,
he was probably like, "But I thought Trump's approval
rating was up to eleventeen thricks.
That's what I heard."
[ Laughter ]
So Trump is clearly both been watching impeachment coverage
and also getting enraged about it.
Although he'd love for us to believe he's not.
On Friday, for example, he insisted he was working
on other, more important issues, like a supposed trade deal
he keeps claiming he's negotiating with China.
-Mr. President, your reaction to the votes in the House
Judiciary this morning?
-Well, I was actually, believe it or not, finishing up the --
I was doing the final touches on the China deal.
-I do not believe it.
[ Laughter ]
Also, if you do anything, it's not the final touches.
They maybe let you help out in the beginning
a little bit so you have ownership.
You know, the way you let your toddler stir the frosting
but not put the cake in the oven.
So now that impeachment is almost certain to pass
in the House, it will move to the Senate for trial,
where the Senators themselves will act as jurors.
And Republican Senators, who will act as those jurors,
are already on TV defending the President
before the trial even begins.
For example, there was Senator Rand Paul, who kept insisting
in a contentious interview with CNN's Jake Tapper
that Trump was just worried about corruption in general,
even though several of Trump's closest associates
have been arrested and jailed.
And Paul just kept mindlessly repeating his talking points.
-All of them have been convicted of federal crimes.
You really think President Trump is concerned
about rooting out corruption?
-I think most of what you listed,
and most of the people that were indicted or convicted,
were alleged to have been some sort of huge Russian conspiracy.
-I'm asking about President Trump and corruption.
I just listed a number of close associates of President Trump's
who are either in prison or -- -Right.
But I think it's based on opinion.
It's based on opinion on foreign aids.
-These are criminal convictions.
I just wanted to know, do you really think
President Trump is concerned about corruption?
Just a yes or no.
Is that something you really believe?
-Yes, I do think --
I do think that Ukraine -- I think Ukraine has been
one of the corruptest countries on Earth.
-That's not what I asked.
-All the governments of Ukraine have been corrupt.
-He kept ignoring the question.
There's no way to break through with these guys.
They just recite their preprogrammed lines.
Anchors have to yell at them the way you yell
at one of those automated customer service agents.
Hello?
-Thank you for calling Verizon. How can I help you?
-Yeah, I want to cancel my service.
-I heard "I want to upgrade my service."
Is that correct? -No!
No, no, I said I want to cancel!
-I heard "please add a second phone line to my account."
Is that correct? -No, I want to cancel!
-I heard "I love Verizon."
Thank you. Goodbye.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-The argument -- the argument that Trump
was just concerned about corruption in general
is obviously absurd on its face.
In fact, as we speak, Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani,
who's at the center of this whole scheme,
is back in the U.S.
from a trip to Ukraine where he was still digging up dirt
on Trump's political rivals.
And "The Wall Street Journal" reports that Rudy
is still reporting directly to Trump.
When he returned to New York last Saturday,
the President called him as his plane
was still taxiing down the runway.
"What did you get?" Trump asked.
"More than you can imagine," Giuliani replied.
He was loudly committing crimes on the plane
as soon as the plane landed.
At this point, whenever Rudy flies, the flight attendants
are going to have to announce his Miranda rights.
"You are now free to use your mobile devices.
And remember, anything you say can
and will be used against you in a court of law."
Not only are they continuing to cheat the election as we speak,
but they're also trying to cheat in the trial about the cheating.
Remember, the Senate is supposed to be a fair and impartial jury.
But both Senate majority leader
Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary chairman
Lindsay Graham have said explicitly their only goal
is to end the trial as quickly as possible,
call zero witnesses, and take their marching orders
directly from the President himself.
-I don't need any witnesses at all.
-Okay, and then -- -I am ready to go.
My goal is to end this as soon as possible
for the good of the country. -I wasn't -- at this point.
-I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.
-Everything I do during this,
I'm coordinating with White House counsel.
There will be no difference between the President's position
and our position as to how to handle this.
-They're supposed to be the jury,
and they're literally going on TV
admitting they're not going to be impartial.
And they're going to take their orders from the President.
Only in the Senate can you openly brag
that you're not pretending to be a fair jury.
Lindsey Graham sounds like a dude who's just making stuff up
to get out of jury duty.
"I can't serve on a jury.
My grandma's sick, and I'm her caretaker,
and I'm cat sitting, and I live far away,
and I don't speak English, and I'm biased against cops."
[ Laughter and applause ]
This is the Republican Party of Trump,
a party that sees any challenge to its power as illegitimate,
that's fine with cheating to win elections
and that rigs trials to avoid consequences for that cheating.
They don't care what they have to do to win,
even if it involves cheating
and then defending that cheating by going on TV and spouting --
-Bull[bleep].
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]