-Well, a lot is going on
in the world of Trump-adjacent weirdos.
A judge has ruled that a series of major defamation lawsuits
against three Trump allies who lied about the election
can move forward. A cyber expert admitted
that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has no proof
for his election lies. And a damning new transcript
from a separate case has emerged,
in which Rudy Giuliani told federal agents
it's okay to lie during a political campaign.
For more on this, it is time for "A Closer Look."
[ Theme music plays ]
The lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election
is the central animating belief of Republican politics today.
That's why GOP state legislatures
in states like Georgia and Texas have been racing
to pass voter suppression laws
despite zero evidence of any widespread fraud.
In fact, according to Vox, Georgia Republicans
are already putting their new law to use.
I mean, damn, that was fast.
The next election is 15 months away,
and they're already trying to undermine it.
I never think that far ahead about anything.
Every single year, I say to myself,
"I'm going to get my wife something great
for our anniversary," and the next time I think about it
is when my wife says, "Happy anniversary."
And you know how they say, "It's the thought that counts"?
Well, it turns out, that's bull [Bleep],
because I assure you, I thought about it.
Like, I can show you the reminder
I wrote for myself in my Notes app,
although the Notes app is a trap.
You only open it to write stuff down.
You never open it to read anything.
It would be just as effective to write your reminders
on a rock and then drop it in a pond.
Go ahead, open your Notes app right now.
I guarantee, all that's in there
is a Wi-Fi password to some Airbnb
and a phone number you've never called.
Besides, my best gifts are my impressions.
Why waste money on a physical present
which I can just give my wife the joy and delight
of a Mike Lindell.
[As Lindell] Happy anniversary, honey.
I thought you'd enjoy this impression
more than some earrings from De Beers [da Bears]!
Where you going? I got more Bears fun for you.
Oh, God, no! Oh, she's leavin' me!
Oh, no! Here comes da tears!
[ Normal voice ] By the way, we focused a lot
on the voter suppression aspects of these laws,
which are definitely bad, but even worse,
these laws also give Republicans the power
to subvert election outcomes they don't like.
For example, in Georgia, "the most ominous provisions
of this new law allow the state election board,
which is dominated by Republicans,
to seize control of county election boards.
Those boards can disqualify voters,
move polling precincts, and potentially even refuse
to certify an election count."
Well, thankfully, there's no danger of that.
I can't recall a time when Republicans ever refused
to certify an election count.
What's that? In January? Well, I wasn't here.
I was at impression camp, remember?
I came back, and you asked me if I worked on my Liam Neeson,
and I said, "No, only a very few people
can do Neeson, because it requires
[As Neeson] a very particular set of skills."
[ Normal voice ] Misdirect. Classic.
Anyway, remember how Trump called
the Georgia secretary of state and tried to badger him
into magically finding enough votes to change the outcome?
Well, basically, Republicans in Georgia
made it easier for him to succeed next time
by allowing Republicans to take control
of the county election board in, say, Fulton.
That where we're at right now.
Republicans saw a guy possibly commit a crime
and decided to make it easier for him to pull it off.
It's like if there was a rash of car break-ins
in your neighborhood and the town council responded
by outlawing The Club. It's a true story.
Sal wrote that joke, and Mel, who makes the graphics,
is so young, she didn't know what a Club was.
[ Laughter ]
She thought it was a nightclub,
and the easy way for Mel to remember, moving forward,
is when Sal says "The Club," it's always
the one you put on the car
and not the one that Sal is too old to get into.
[ Laughter ]
"I'm the guy who writes "A Closer Look'!"
"Just keep it movin', buddy." [ Laughter ]
"I'm going to write a 'Closer Look' about this club."
[ Laughter ]
And yet, even as Republican voters and lawmakers
continue to codify the lie
that the election was stolen from Trump,
the people who push that lie are facing
major legal and financial consequences for it.
On Wednesday, a judge ruled
that a series of defamation lawsuits
brought by the election technology company Dominion
against three Trump-adjacent crazy people can move forward.
-A federal judge will allow three major defamation lawsuits
to go forward against some of former President Trump's
most loyal supporters. Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell,
and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are all being sued
for billions of dollars in damages
by Dominion Voting Systems, which is the company
that they falsely accused of election fraud.
-Dominion, which makes
voting machines used in the 2020 election,
wants billions of dollars in damages.
The judge who issued the ruling was appointed by Donald Trump.
-Okay, so, there are only two plausible explanations
for what happened here. Either a federal judge
appointed by Donald Trump ruled that unfounded claims
of election fraud made by three Trump allies
were not exempt from defamation loss
or Hugo Chávez teamed up with China and the CIA
to use Italian military satellites
to hack the judge's computer and alter his opinion,
which was then printed out on paper
smuggled in from China, covered in bamboo fibers.
The only way we can know for sure is
if we take the judge's ruling to a cabin in Montana,
examine it under a powerful ultraviolet light,
then bury it in the backyard, wait three days,
and see if it rains.
Man, I wish I could have seen Rudy's face when he found out.
And that's saying something, because I've never wished
to see Rudy's face.
I mean, it could have been anything.
The man has a whole range of expressions.
Maybe it was this... or this... or this...or this.
Who knows?
He's the man of a thousand faces.
And I'm guessing, when Lindell found out,
he was so shocked, his mustache fell off.
Why does Lindell's facial hair look so cartoonishly fake?
He looks like a gambler
who changed his look to hide from the mob.
He wants to see everyone else's voter I.D.,
but there's a good chance, if we saw his driver's license,
it would look like this.
Now, Lindell has been at a so-called Cyber Symposium
in South Dakota this week, continuing to spread the lie
that the election was rigged,
and he's been livestreaming the whole thing.
So we got to see him react to this ruling in real time.
And as you may have guessed,
he showed his trademark calm and restraint.
-Oh, okay. This, I found out.
I do want to say this before they come out.
Okay, remember I told you that, um...
[ Audience murmurs ]
This is -- This is news to me. I read this for the first time.
This is really bad for our country, everybody.
They -- Everybody needs to really listen up.
This is just new to me.
"The federal judge just put in, this afternoon,
Dominion Voting Systems can move forward
with defamation lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani,
Sidney Powell, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell."
-Are you just reading this for the first time?
-I'm just reading it. Can you believe that?
-[ Shouting indistinctly ] -That is horrible, everybody.
Your First Amendment rights to free speech
just got blown out of the water. It's over.
You can get sued for everything now.
Nothing matters anymore.
-Watching someone get bad news in real time,
at their own symposium, is my new kink.
This is like if Tony Robbins lost it
during one of his self-help seminars.
[As Robbins] You have to push out your negative feelings
and take control of your emotions.
Hold on. It's my assistant.
What do you mean they don't have blue jeans?!
What kind of self-respecting sale runs out of blue jeans?!
I will not call Don Pablo! My whole day is ruined now!
[ Normal voice ] That's why I like how Lindell
suddenly takes on the exhausted energy
of a substitute teacher when he's trying to tell everyone
how much deep [Bleep] he's in.
[As Lindell] Hey, guys. Listen up, please.
Uh, come on, guys. If we don't do the lesson plan,
we can't watch "Free Willy" on laser disk.
Hey, come on. What are you doing on the couch?
Come on, guys, you can't type "boobs," okay?
And don't tell me the calculator was hacked by Hugo Chávez.
Why? Because you're gonna get sued by Texas Instruments.
[ Normal voice ] The best part of that clip, though,
is how Lindell involves everybody else in the room
by telling them their free speech rights
are blown out of the water.
Like whatever happens to him is happening to America.
[As Lindell] Guys, bad news, the doctor called,
and it looks like America has super-high cholesterol.
No more lunch ribs for America. [ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] By the way,
as the symposium has been happening,
a cyber expert who has examined Lindell's supposed evidence
apparently admitted they can't actually prove
any of his claims.
It's also very complicated and also extremely insane.
But to boil it down for you, "The Washington Times" reported
that "the key data underpinning the theory
that China hacked the 2020 election
unveiled at the Cyber Symposium is illegitimate."
The cyber expert said, "We were handed a turd."
Yes, but in fairness that's what they use to fill MyPillows.
Rock-hard, calcified turds.
Honestly, poor cyber experts. You go to school
to get a degree in computer science,
spend your whole career mastering
a highly specialized skill that would be
actually very helpful in today's high-tech economy,
and then a psycho pillow magnate hands you what I'm guessing is
a garbage bag full of dry-cleaning slips
and CVS receipts and said,
[As Lindell] I need you to switch who the president is.
[ Normal voice ] So, Trump's gang of weirdos
has these big defamation lawsuits
hanging over their heads. And exactly -- I'm guessing
it's not exactly going to help Rudy Giuliani in 2018,
according to a newly released transcript
from an interview with federal agents.
He basically admitted that he thinks it's okay
to lie during a political campaign.
-"The Washington Post" now reporting
that ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani,
who took Trump's election fraud claims to court
and failed told federal agents
back in 2018 it was okay
to "throw a fake" in the course of a campaign.
"The Post" says that during that same interview,
Giuliani's then-law partner Marc Mukasey added
that during a campaign,
"you're under no obligation to tell the truth."
-That's right, Rudy told federal agents
it was okay to "throw a fake" during a political campaign.
First of all, why did he use the term "throw a fake?"
Was he watching a boxing match
in the back of a Staten Island butcher shop?
[As Giuliani] I paid him 100 bucks to throw a fake.
I told him to make one hit and then make this face.
[ Normal voice ] But the funniest --
can't believe we had another one.
But the funniest part about this admission from Rudy, though,
is that it was seemingly totally unnecessary.
His law partner at the time, a guy named Marc Mukasey,
was trying to gently explain that sometimes,
people in general exaggerate in political campaigns.
Not Rudy specifically.
But Rudy couldn't help but chime in and confess.
Mukasey -- "In the heat of a political campaign,
on television, I'm not saying Rudy necessarily,
but everybody embellishes everything."
Giuliani -- "Oh, you could throw a fake."
Mukasey -- "You're under no obligation to tell the truth."
Giuliani -- "You could throw a fake."
What was the prep for that meeting like?
"Just keep your mouth shut, Rudy,
and I'll do the talking." "Got it.
I might jump in a few times to say you can throw a fake."
"Don't do that." "I won't."
"Maybe just a couple of times." "Don't do it at all."
"I'll just do it twice, but I'll wait until they're recording."
"Rudy!" "I promise I won't do it."
"Do you really promise?" "No, I'm throwing a fake."
The Republican Party is busy trying to cement the big lie
that the 2020 election was stolen
by using it to justify new voter-suppression laws
that will make it both harder to vote
and easier to overturn results they don't like.
Meanwhile, the people who concocted that lie
are facing major legal and financial consequences
because, in the court system, facts still matter
as opposed to Republican politics, where...
-Nothing matters anymore.
This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Theme music plays ]
God's Love We Deliver cooks and brings
over 2 million meals a year to men, women, and children
living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses,
and they need your help now more than ever.
If you're watching this online, you can hit the Donate button.
Stay safe, get vaccinated. We love you.