-As Republicans salivate over the discovery of a small number
of classified documents in Joe Biden's home
and private office,
Donald Trump's many criminal probes
are intensifying, and Trump is freaking out.
In response, he called in to a right-wing radio show
and called the special counsel investigating him
a terrorist.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Theme music plays ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Going into last year's midterms, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
and his fellow Republicans were expecting a landslide victory
that would give them a large majority in the House
and a mandate to go on offense against Joe Biden
and the Democrats. In fact, for at least a year
leading up to the midterms, McCarthy was incredibly cocky
about it, even giving out specific numbers
for how many seats Republican could win.
-It could be one of the biggest election losses for Democrats.
I think anywhere over 20 is a red wave.
We want to earn enough that we have a governing majority.
That means getting in the realm of 20 and higher.
If we were fortunate enough to win 35 Republican seats,
that would be the largest Republican majority
in more than 100 years.
There's about 55 to 70 seats that we can play in
and make them competitive.
-Is there any chance Republicans are a little overconfident
this year? -No, we're not overconfident.
-"There's gonna be historic red wave or my name's not
Klevin McCorthy. [Bleep] Hold on!"
[ Laughter ]
It's never a good sign when someone says
they're not being overconfident.
If a character says that in a movie, he's about 10 minutes
away from getting eaten by a T-Rex.
"I'm not overconfident! I'm your only way
out of this park! [ Screams ]"
[ Laughter ]
McCarthy was so overconfident, he was even predicting
the safe blue seats where Biden beat Trump by double digits
would be vulnerable to Republicans, and he warned
the members of Congress in those seats
that they could soon be out of jobs.
-If you're a Democrat, and President Biden
won your seat by 16 points,
you're in a competitive race next year.
You are no longer safe.
-"You are no longer safe"? Are you a member of Congress
or a stalker ex-husband from a Lifetime movie
called "Taking back the House?"
[ Laughter ]
"Kevin! What are you doing here?!
You don't live here anymore!"
"I helped pay for this house, Carol, and if you think
I'm gonna stand by while you turn into the town harlot,
you are sadly mistaken! You are no longer safe!"
[ Laughter ]
Anyway, the point is, McCarthy was confidently predicting
enough seats for what he called a governing majority,
meaning majority big enough that he could get stuff done
without having to beg and plead with every individual member
of his caucus. As we all know now,
that did not happen, and McCarthy had to concede
to virtually anything anyone wanted from him
to get their vote. For example,
allowing just one Republican to call for a vote
to remove him as Speaker at any time -- one member.
That means any time Lauren Boebert has a bad day,
she can take it out on Kevin McCarthy,
which is a problem because she only has bad days.
Don't get me wrong -- she loves bad days.
She's built for bad days. She's the only person
who wears a T-shirt that says, "Thank God it's Monday."
[ Laughter ]
Anyway, the point is, McCarthy had to beg and plead
to get his job, and for help with that,
he turned to Donald Trump. Now, as we've explained before,
Trump is actually a big reason McCarthy has
such a small majority in the first place.
Instead of staying out of the primary process,
and letting more conventional GOP candidates
win their races, Trump kept endorsing
his collection of MAGA goons.
McCarthy would say, "Here's a good choice.
He's pro-military and anti-taxes."
And then Trump would say, "I also have a guy.
He's for sure a pyromaniac..."
[ Laughter ]
"...and he once punched a horse at a county fair,
but he also has my name tattooed on his forehead,
so he's a sharp guy."
[ Laughter ]
If it wasn't for Trump-endorsed candidates failing
in the general election, Republicans probably would have
won a lot more seats, and McCarthy would have breezed
through the Speaker vote. Instead, Trump tanked the party,
and McCarthy's razor-thin margin relies on Trump fanatics.
So to get them on board, McCarthy had to rely on
Trump's help, which he openly admitted.
-I do want to especially thank President Trump.
I don't think he should -- anybody should doubt
his influence.
He was with me from the beginning.
Somebody wrote the doubt is why he was there,
and he was all in.
And he was a great influence to make that all happen,
so thank you, President Trump.
-As a general rule, it's weird to publicly thank someone
who is under multiple criminal investigations.
During her Golden Globes speech, Jennifer Coolidge
didn't thank the actual Italian Mafia, although in her case,
I don't think she should thank anyone.
She's Jennifer Coolidge.
She should give a "you're welcome" speech.
[ Cheers and applause ] Yeah.
She should just get up there, take her award,
say, "Wow!" And then just walk off.
[ Laughter ]
But the last person you should be thanking is Trump.
That's the point at which McCarthy
should have been played off.
-I do want to especially thank, uh, President Trump.
[ Fanfare plays loudly ]
I don't think...
-Of course, this year's Golden Globe
had that haunting piano -- the same haunting piano
that plays in "Taking Back the House"
when Kevin emerges from behind the curtain.
[ Haunting piano music plays ]
[ Laughter ]
The point is, the Speaker of the House
is now publicly indebted to a guy who openly plotted
a coup against the United States government.
In fact, the multiple criminal investigations
into Trump are now intensifying.
On Friday, for example, Trump's family company
was hit with the maximum fine allowed under New York State law
for running a years-long tax fraud scheme.
-Tonight the Trump Organization has been hit
with the maximum penalty -- $1.6 million --
after being found guilty of a years-long scheme
to pay top executives with cars, apartments,
and school tuition, all to avoid paying tax.
-No, I think it's great that Trump's company
was held criminally accountable.
But only $1.6 million?
Trump probably keeps that much change
in his big-ass coat. [ Laughter ]
I mean, look. He looks like he should be
standing in line at a Coinstar machine.
Trump's company got the maximum fine
from a criminal tax-fraud conviction.
Then, we found out last week that the Justice Department
has issued yet another flurry of subpoenas
to Trump officials as part of their investigation
into the coup attempt on January 6th.
-We are keeping a new eye on some new moves
in that DOJ criminal investigation
into January 6th, with the Washington Post
now reporting on its new and wide-ranging subpoena
that the Justice Department sent to Trump campaign officials.
It asks some new questions related to the 6th,
according to The Post, for information
about stuff like what these people said
about voting machines after 2020;
for documents about the fundraising and planning
that went into then-President Trump's
rally on the 6th.
-Now, this is big,
because you know what the punishment is
for instigating a coup.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
-One million dollars. [ Laughter ]
-Big-time stuff.
But more subpoenas are going out.
For example, prosecutors have subpoenaed Mike Pence
to find out what the [Bleep] is going on with this run.
[ Laughter ]
The Justice Department needs to get to the bottom of that.
The only time it makes sense to run and clap at the same time
is if your dog is humping a stranger's leg in the park.
"Atlas, no! No!
Atlas, no humping! We discussed this!"
[ Laughter ]
And we played this clip last week,
and somehow it was the first time
I and a lot of our viewers had seen it.
And it only raised more questions.
I mean, look at the rhythm of his clapping.
He's... [ Laughter ]
...like the weirdest metronome I've ever seen.
He's like a -- like a T-1000 that got reprogrammed.
[ Laughter ]
And there may be new areas of investigative interest,
but it's a lot of the old names. For example, prosecutors
are focused yet again on a close Trump ally
who has been in and out of legal trouble,
basically nonstop, for several years now.
-Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani
has been subpoenaed for documents
related to payments he received around the 2020 election.
A source tells CNN the subpoena is
part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's
sweeping criminal probe into Trump's fundraising and spending
as he tried to overturn the 2020 election.
That's right, Rudy was subpoenaed.
I bet I know what face he made when he found out.
Ooh. I tricked you.
You guys thought I was gonna show
the one where his eyes are bugging out of his head.
[ Laughter ]
No, that's not how Rudy would react to a subpoena.
That's how he'd react to seeing Mike Pence run.
[ Laughter ]
Mike Pence runs like one of those ball thingies
bosses have in movies on their desk.
[ Laughter ]
It won't surprise you to learn
that all this has made Trump very unhappy.
Last week, he called in to a right-wing radio show
and threw a hissy fit about the special counsel
who's investigating him -- a guy named Jack Smith.
-Hey! First of all,
no one should be held responsible
for what their wife's sister does,
my man! [ Laughter ]
That's not cool!
Bad enough you got to spend all day worrying
what your wife's doing behind your back.
But her sister?
[Bleep] you, dude.
[ Laughter ]
Also, how does Trump even have all of this information
about a guy's extended family?
Is he just sitting down with ancestry.com every night,
looking for new enemies?
"I just got a hint leaf,
and it says that his wife has a sister
who does not like Trump or cilantro."
[ Laughter ]
This is, yet again, one of the many differences
between the situations Trump and Biden find themselves in.
Trump is under multiple separate criminal investigations.
He's lied about them at every turn,
refused to cooperate, obstructed the investigations,
and is now calling the prosecutor investigating him
a terrorist. Biden is at least cooperating.
The worst thing you could say about Biden is,
there was no reason for him to keep classified documents
in the garage where he also parks his Corvette.
-According to President Joe Biden,
these classified documents were found in his personal library
and in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Just moments ago,
Biden addressed the matter very briefly, saying
it was a locked garage where he also keeps his Corvette.
-Let me -- I'm gonna get a chance to speak
on all of this, God willing, soon.
But as I said earlier this week, people --
And by the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage.
Okay? So it's not like you're sitting out in the street.
But as I said earlier this week, people know
I take classified documents and classified material seriously.
I also said we're cooperating fully
and completely with the Justice Department's review.
-But why were the documents
specifically next to the Corvette?
Does he think reading documents make you look like a nerd,
so he wanted something kick-ass next to them?
"Mr. President, we have intelligence on North Korea
you need to read ASAP."
"Aw, my Corvette's too far away.
Get me my Ray-Bans and my Harley jacket."
[ Laughter ]
House Republicans are trying to go after Biden
and protect Trump, but the two situations
are in no way comparable. Trump is under multiple
criminal investigations for many things,
from his family business to his coup attempt
to his refusal to hand over classified documents.
Biden is at least cooperating.
When the Feds showed up at Mar-a-Lago,
Trump didn't exactly run to the door like this.
[ Laughter ]
This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Theme music plays ]
[ Cheers and applause ]