-The president is already ramping up
his re-election campaign as the specter
of Robert Mueller's report looms over him.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Trump's campaign team is signaling to reporters
that they want to build a massive re-election machine
with tons of money and resources.
But as CNN reported this week,
Trump's campaign also keeps insisting to reporters
that Trump, himself, is in charge.
-We're getting a rare exclusive look
inside the Trump 2020 re-election campaign
that's been humming since his inauguration day.
We're hearing about the changes that they've made
to better use technology,
and as CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash
now reports, how even the president's campaign manager
admits that Trump is the communications director,
the finance director, campaign manager,
and master of the Trump train.
-I mean, maybe he has all those jobs
because no one else wants those jobs.
After the last -- [ Cheers and applause ]
Remember, after the last election,
his campaign chairman, deputy campaign chairman,
national security adviser, foreign policy adviser,
informal outside advisers, and personal lawyer
all got indicted or went to jail.
It's really hard to make "Ocean's Twelve"
when Ocean's Eleven is facing 15 to 20.
[ Laughter ]
If you get to job working for Trump's re-election campaign,
they hand you an HR manual and a jump suit.
I'm just kidding, they don't have HR manuals.
[ Laughter ]
Also can we hear the list of jobs Trump supposedly has again?
-Trump is the communications director, the finance director,
campaign manager, and master of the Trump train.
-Master of the Trump train sounds like a fun one
they made up to keep his attention in a meeting.
"All right, Kellyanne, you talk to reporters,
Stephen, you're from charge of immigration policy,
and, Donald, you get to be the conductor of the Trump train.
Here's your official hat!"
Now, no one should assume
that Trump is going to be easy to beat.
But as his re-Election campaign ramps up,
he's preparing for the political fallout
from special counsel Robert Mueller's looming report
which could come out any week now.
Yesterday, Trump was asked if he would be in favor
of making Mueller's report public,
and he insisted that he would be,
although if you listen to Trump's rambling answers,
it's hard to believe that he genuinely wants
the report to come out.
-I just won an election
with 63 million votes or so -- 63 million.
I got 306 electoral votes against 223.
That's a tremendous victory.
And now somebody just writes a report?
I think it's ridiculous.
I know that he's conflicted,
and I know that his best friend is Comey, who's a bad cop.
I know that he put 13 highly conflicted
and, you know, very angry -- I call them angry Democrats in.
There's no collusion. There was no collusion.
There was no obstruction. There was no nothing.
With all of that being said,
I look forward to seeing the report.
[ Laughter ]
-"With all that being said," doesn't really work
when you just said all that.
It's like if a cop pulled you over and asked
if you'd been drinking, you said,
"Well, officer, I had three beers, three shots of whiskeys,
a screwdriver, a margarita, two mai tais, a Martini,
a bottle of wine, six jello shots, and a line of coke.
With all that being said, I think I'm good to drive.
[ Laughter ]
But it's important to remember that Mueller's report
is not the be-all-end-all,
and Russian collusion is not the only crime
Trump is being investigated for.
In fact, there are multiple law enforcement agencies
investigating virtually every aspect of Trump's life
from his personal finances to his business.
And this week, we got some blockbuster reporting
suggesting that Trump may have lied to a bank
about his net worth to get a loan.
-"The New York Times" is reporting that years ago,
Deutsche Bank loaned over $2 billion
to President Trump, even though they allegedly knew
that he was lying about his net worth.
-The story says, "Mr. Trump told Deutsche Bank
his net worth was about $3 billion.
But when the bank employees reviewed his finances,
they concluded he was worth about $788 million.
-He inflated his net worth by more than $2 billion.
It's like when you see a guy on tinder who says
he speaks six languages,
and then he takes you to Starbucks and goes,
"Can I have a Farpakieno?"
[ Laughter ]
You want a farpakieno? Make it deuce-o."
But the craziest part of this story
is that despite all the red flags,
Deutsche Bank gave Trump billions of dollars anyway.
Time after time, the bank handed over money,
a total well over $2 billion
to a man who nearly all other banks had deemed untouchable.
Aside from his history of defaults,
he was an attractive borrower.
That's an insane sentence -- A history of defaults
is what makes you an unattractive borrower.
It's like an episode of "dateline" that starts
"he was an attractive husband,
aside from his history of murder."
[ Ominous music plays ]
[ Laughter ]
The story is such a perfect microcosm
of how the game is rigged for people like Donald Trump.
The guy allegedly lied about his net worth
and defaulted on loans,
yet a major bank was happy to give him $2 billion.
Compare that to the 2008 financial crisis,
when conservatives were furious at the idea
that President Obama was going to help out
struggling homeowners who couldn't pay their mortgages.
Conservatives said at the time that if you took out a mortgage
you couldn't afford, it was your fault.
You might even remember this famous rant on CNBC
by a guy named Rick Santelli.
This is the rant that is credited by many people
with starting the Tea Party movement.
-The government is promoting bad behavior.
How about this, President and new administration --
Why don't you put up a website
to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum
to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages.
This is America!
How many of you people want to pay
for your neighbors' mortgage that has an extra bathroom
and can't pay their bills? Raise their hand.
How about we all -- [ Audience booing ]
Agh! President Obama, are you listening?
-To answer your question, No, he wasn't,
because we used to have a president
who didn't spend all day watching cable TV.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Now if you go on TV and say,
"President Trump, are you listening?"
He would call in five minutes later.
[ As Trump ] Heard you loud and clear.
And yet, despite the culture of criminality and corruption
surrounding the president,
Republicans are already falling in line
with his re-election bid,
even ones to expressed reservations about him.
Take, for example, Texas Congressman Will Hurd,
who has criticized Trump's demand for a border wall.
Hurd has cast himself as a champion
of bipartisan compromise.
In fact, in 2017, he famously went on
a 36-hour road trip with Democrat Beto O'Rourke.
They even live streamed parts of it on Facebook.
-After 36 hours and 1,600 miles
from San Antonio to Washington in a Chevy Impala,
Democrat Beto O'Rourke and Republican Will Hurd
have become a little closer.
-♪ We're the best of friends ♪
on the road, they found a mutual appreciation for country music,
fast food --
-Whataburger unites us all.
-And topics that you'll never find in any buddy movie.
-We need to be bringing more people on the healthcare rolls,
not fewer.
-Building a wall from sea to shining sea
is the most expensive and least effective way
to do border security.
-Wow, that is the most policy heavy road trip
since that documentary about legalizing weed
starring Cheech & Chong.
[ Laughter ]
The road trip went viral,
and Beto even declined to help Hurd's Democratic opponent
in 2018 as a sign of their friendship,
so naturally, when Hurd was asked earlier this month
if he would vote for his friend, Beto, over the president,
he was repeatedly criticized.
Hurd said he would definitely vote for Donald Trump.
-Who would you vote for between Beto O'Rourke and Donald Trump?
-My plan is to vote for the Republican nominee.
-Man, you know it's bad when you can't even say the name
of the guy you're voting for.
Republicans are gonna have to print out lawn signs
that say "Republican nominee, whoever that is, 2020."
[ Laughter ]
Also, you're going to toss Beto
after all you've been through?
Because if you went on a road trip and ate Whataburger,
I can only imagine fart cloud you two shared.
[ Laughter ]
Right-wing pundits who distanced themselves from Trump
are falling in line, too,
like former Fox News host, Glenn Beck.
Beck spent most of his years
as one of the most unhinged voices on Fox,
warning that nefarious forces were destroying the country,
and trying to prove that Obama was a dictator
by circling random letters on a chalkboard
like he was playing a dickhead version of the Jumble.
-Obama, the left, internationalists,
graft, ACORN-style organizations,
revolution, and hidden agenda.
O...L...I...
G...A...R...H.
[ Laughter ]
One letter is missing.
And then tie them all together into one word.
Oligarch.
The one that's missing...
is "Y." -No.
No. That's not -- That's not the letter you're missing.
You spelled oligarchy without a "C."
That's oligarhy.
You're closer to spelling Olive Garden.
[ Laughter ]
Now, now...
[ Applause ]
In 2016, Beck seemed to have a change of heart.
HE apologized for extremist rhetoric,
said he would not vote for Trump,
and even told "The New York Times,"
"I think he could be one of the most dangerous presidents
to ever come into the oval office."
At the time, many suspected
this was all just an act to rebrand himself,
and when he went on Fox News this week to talk about 2020,
he finally dropped the act.
-I will tell you this -- if the Republicans don't win
in this next election,
I think we are officially
at the end of the country as we know it.
-Oh, my God. Hold on, you guys.
He's on Fox News...
[ Laughter ]
...talking about the end of the United States...
which can mean only one thing -- "F.U."
[ Laughter ]
And I'm sorry, but we're not --
[ Cheers and applause ]
We're not taking political advice --
Nobody wants to take political advice
from divorced Santa Claus over here.
And we can tell he's pandering to Trump
because he's started to dress like The Colonel.
[ Laughter ]
Republicans are falling in line with Trump's re-election bid
despite the culture of corruption
and criminality around him.
So many of his closest associates have been indicted,
and every aspect of his personal life is being investigated.
At this point, in order not to find a crime,
you'd have to be a -- -Bad cop.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪