-The Supreme Court ruled
that South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham
must testify in front of a grand jury
as part of an investigation into Donald Trump's attempt
to steal votes in Georgia after the 2020 election.
And yet pro-Trump election deniers
remain undeterred as the midterms approach.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell
even claimed he had access to voting machines to detect fraud.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
You may recall that as part of the GOP attempt
to overthrow the election results in 2020,
Donald Trump called
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
to magically find enough votes to overturn the results
in a now-infamous phone call.
In his own separate call with Raffensperger,
Graham asked him if he had the power
to throw out legally cast ballots.
At the time when the call was first reported,
Graham described it as an innocent conversation
and said he was just curious
about how mail voting works in Georgia.
-What I'm very concerned about is
that if you're gonna continue to vote by mail
that we need to know what systems work and what don't.
It's up to the people of Georgia.
But I think I have every right in the world to reach out
and say, "How does it work?"
-That's right -- He was just curious
about how mail voting works.
So instead of Googling it or hopping on a bike
and pedaling down to the town library,
he decided to call an election official
right as the president he supported was in the midst
of orchestrating a coup to stay in power.
It's just an innocent coincidence.
It's like how when I want to check if my Internet is working,
I'll Google, "Is it bad that I put my kids' college fund
into Bitcoin?"
It's a test.
I didn't actually do it, honey.
And also, if I did, markets are fluid, so...
Graham makes it sound like he hosts one of those podcasts
like "Radiolab" or "Stuff You Should Know,"
where they investigate everyday mysteries.
[ As Graham ] On today's episode of "Tele-Graham,"
we investigate mail-in voting.
But first, this episode is brought to you by Mailchimp,
which is what my mee-maw used to tell me
I was gonna be when I grew up.
She said, "You ain't never gonna be a senator.
You're gonna be working at the post office as a mail chimp."
And I said, "That's not even a job, Mee-Maw."
She said, "Well, they're gonna make an exception for you,"
and I yell, "Why don't you stop
putting your carpal tunnel sleeve in the dishwasher?"
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Well, anyway, if the explanation
was as innocent as Graham made it sound,
then you'd think he'd have no problem
explaining that to the Fulton County DA's office,
which is investigating attempts
to interfere in Georgia's election
and subpoenaed Graham as part of that investigation.
Graham sued to block the DA's request for testimony
and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court,
which yesterday denied Graham's bid to block the subpoena.
-This just in -- The Supreme Court
rejected Senator Lindsey Graham's attempt
to block the subpoena forcing him to testify
in the 2020 election investigation in Georgia.
-A district attorney in Georgia had wanted Senator Graham
to appear to give his testimony
before that grand jury November 17th.
Now the Supreme Court is saying,
you know, "We are not gonna get you out of that."
-Damn, he couldn't even get his bro Brett Kavanaugh
to help him out.
You guys remember the sneer brothers.
That picture reminds me
of knocking on the screen door at my aunt's house
and getting growled out by her two Chihuahuas
while she took forever to let me in.
Looked like a couple of actors auditioning
for the role of the principal in a gritty "Ferris Bueller" reboot
where the principal tries to murder Ferris.
"You've stolen your last Ferrari, Bueller."
And then Ferris would say something like,
"You think you can kill me and get away with it?"
And the principal would be like,
"I have two words for you, Bueller."
-♪ Oh, yeah ♪
-We're referencing the movies kids watch.
[ Laughter ]
Look for that gritty reboot next year on Paramount Minus.
[ Laughter ]
So Graham will have to testify to a grand jury
about his attempts to help Donald Trump
overturn the 2020 election.
And yet none of this seems to be having any effect
on Republican candidates and officials.
They aren't deterred by investigations into 2020.
Hundreds of Republicans on midterm ballots
across the country, including candidates for governor
in key swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania,
continue to insist the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
And if they win, they've made it very clear
that they will do everything in their power
to rig future elections to prevent Democrats from winning.
In fact, many, including Trump himself,
are already preparing to claim next week's midterms are rigged
if they lose.
"Rolling Stone" has already reported
that Trump himself plans to challenge the 2022 elections.
Oh, is Donald Trump planning a media blitz?
His whole life has been a media blitz.
Without the media, he'd be selling illegal cigarettes
out of the back of a Queens bowling alley.
How would a media blitz look any different
from his current strategy of appearing
on literally any right-wing TV network or podcast,
as long as it has the words "real," "patriot,"
or "America" in it?
This is a man who, let's not forget,
basically had a standing invitation
to call in to "Fox & Friends" on a regular basis
and ramble uninterrupted for over an hour
while the hosts just sat there on the couch without moving
like out-of-town tourists who accidentally wandered
into a 1970s porn theater in Times Square.
"When they said peep show,
I thought they meant the Easter candy."
I will say, Kilmeade in particular
looks like a guy who wandered into a peep show
thinking he was gonna get some free marshmallow candies.
"Hello? Does anyone work here?
Oh, good. The curtain's coming up.
Hello, ma'am. I'm looking for some candy chickens.
Ma'am, can you not hear me through the glass?
Oh, my goodness. Don't take your clothes off."
Just this week, Trump called in to some random
right-wing podcast to repeat some absolutely deranged
and completely debunked conspiracy theories
about the horrific attack
on Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi.
-It's weird things going on in that household
in the last couple of weeks.
You know, probably you and I
are better not talking about it, Chris.
But the glass, it seems,
was broken from the inside to the out.
And, you know, that was -- so it wasn't a break-in.
It was a breakout. I don't know.
You know, you hear the same things I do.
-Yeah, the 911 tape seems to suggest
that he knew the identity of the guy.
-Yeah. Yeah, that's a -- that's a lot of bad stuff.
I'm not a fan of Nancy Pelosi,
but what's going on there is very sad.
-No big deal, everybody.
Just the former president of the United States
saying weird things have been going on
in the Pelosi household for the last couple of weeks,
which I guess he knows because what, he's the [bleep] Watcher?
[ Laughter ]
You know, it takes a real sack of [bleep]
to start gaming out a way you can make
an 82-year-old attempted murder victim the bad guy.
Trump just makes [bleep] up
and spreads it through vague Mafia-style innuendo
like he's in a deleted scene from "The Sopranos."
[ As Trump ] It's very sad what's going on
over at the place.
Over at the place by the thing with our friend.
[ Normal voice ] And, you know, as bad as it is sometimes,
you know, I will admit I have the urge to fight fire with fire
and do the same thing to Trump.
You know, just spread some completely made-up accusation
about him, like, you know, I don't know --
You didn't hear it from me,
but there's some very weird things going on
in Trump's household, like...
[ Laughter ]
I hear his head is shrinking. He hides it.
[ Laughter ]
He hides it when he goes out in public
by wearing a giant fake head on top of his real tiny head.
And look, I'm no fan of Trump, but it's very -- it's very sad.
It's very sad what's happening.
I mean, you see the same pictures I see.
Doctors, I guess they have to fill his head up with helium
before every speech to make it look normal.
And that's why his voice gets really high sometimes,
you know, like this.
-[ High-pitched voice ] You never stop fighting for America.
And I will never, ever stop fighting for you.
-It's very sad. Very sad. It's very weird.
And, you guys, this has been
"Seth Spreads a Baseless Rumor About Donald Trump."
Anyway, the point is, Trump and his movement,
which now includes Republicans running in close races
across country this year,
are preparing to steal both the upcoming midterm elections
and eventually, if they regain power,
the presidential election in 2024.
In Arizona, armed right-wingers inspired by the lies
of Arizona's Republican candidates for governor,
Kari Lake, and secretary of state, Mark Finchem,
have been loitering near early voting drop boxes
to intimidate those voters.
And "The New York Times" just reported
that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell,
whose phone was recently seized in a Hardee's drive-through
by the FBI as part of an investigation
into an illegal voting machine breach
by a pro-Trump county clerk in Colorado,
is actually using his business
to fuel the election denial movement.
He's the single largest advertiser on Fox News.
He finances a large network of right-wing media outlets,
and he spent as much as $40 million
on conferences, activist networks,
a digital media platform, legal battles and researchers
that promote his theory.
I'm honestly shocked he even has $40 million
to throw around on [bleep] like this.
Did nobody have a pillow before he showed up?
Did he invent them?
Was everyone just laying their head down
on a cinder block every night?
Then he came along and said,
"Imagine if that cinder block was just a little bit softer."
I mean, I'm 48.
I think I bought a new pillow like twice in my life.
But they're just flying out the door at MyPillow
because what, this guy seems well-rested?
He has the energy of a guy being dragged
out of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Duluth
for stuffing barbecue sauce in his pockets.
And who are these researchers?
Are they just a bunch of other middle-aged guys
with mustaches and Midwest accents
screaming back and forth at each other?
"Mike, you're never gonna believe what I found here.
I hacked into the voting system
and found a whole bunch of fraud."
"Great work, Paul.
I'm still sifting through the mail ballots,
looking for signatures that don't match.
How about you, Steve?"
"I'm filling my head up with helium
to keep it from deflating.
I got da Trump disease."
Anyway...
this is a man who had his phone taken away
by the FBI in a Hardee's drive-through,
and he was an early and prominent backer of Kari Lake,
the pro-Trump candidate who is now leading the polls
for Arizona governor.
And in a deranged rant this week,
Lindell even said that he and his team
would be monitoring every vote across the country.
-I'm telling everyone out there,
we are watching from every angle.
There's people in every state, every county, every precinct.
We have cyber guys watching this.
I looked at a thing today.
It was on my Twitter back from November of 2020,
and they showed CNN, 20,000 votes dropping right off
of Donald Trump's total in real time.
You guys, votes don't go in reverse.
These are computer manipulation algorithms.
So what I'm telling you is this election, it's all eyes.
We have all the camera angles.
-"We're watching from every angle.
It's all eyes. We have all the camera angles."
Somehow the MyPillow guy has turned himself into Jigsaw.
Although I'm not sure I believe you
when you say you have all eyes and all camera angles
since, you know, you don't even have a phone.
But if that's true, it's probably not a good idea
to be publicly confessing
that you've somehow hacked into voting machines
when you're under active investigation by the FBI.
First they took his phone at a Hardee's drive-through.
Next, they'll probably confiscate all his cameras
while he's in line at a Carl's Jr.
[ As Lindell ] I'm never gonna get that burger.
[ Normal voice ] But I will say,
I did enjoy his little impression
of computer manipulation algorithms, whatever those are.
Can we see that again?
-These are computer manipulation algorithms.
-Does he think that's how you type?
That's not how you type.
That's how a 19th-century English dandy
chooses a candy from a silver platter.
"Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Ohh-oh-oh
Oh, a Charleston Chew.
Don't mind if I do."
The GOP might be talking a lot
about crime or inflation or culture war issues.
But this is the beating heart of Trumpism
in the modern Republican Party.
They simply do not accept the legitimacy
of elections they don't win.
And if they gain power next week,
they will absolutely use that power
to rig future elections for Trump
or any other Republican candidate.
If they could, they would look at all the votes
in an election against Donald Trump,
take all the names, and turn them into...
-All eyes.
-[ Laughs ]
[ Laughter ]
Can't win them all.
This has been "A Closer Look."
The midterm elections are coming up.
So to make sure that you're good to vote in this election,
visit our good friends at headcount.org
to check your voter registration status
or to register to vote.