-The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into Florida
Congressman Matt Gaetz and now Gaetz
has reportedly been snubbed by his political idol,
former President Donald Trump. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ Without Donald Trump
as their standard bearer and with Joe Biden
getting high marks in polls on everything from the economy
to his infrastructure bill, to his COVID response, we're starting to get a picture
of what, if anything, the post-Trump GOP stands for -- from the Arkansas
state legislature passing a cruel and horrific law banning gender-affirming
medical care to Georgia, Texas, and several
other GOP-controlled states passing Draconian new
voter suppression laws, based on the lie
that the 2020 election was somehow stolen from Trump. And, by the way, just as a side
note to conservative pundits, it's not like a gotcha
to point out that you need ID to fly on an airplane
or pick up your tickets from a will call booth
at a baseball game, since those are not
constitutional rights. There's no
Twenty-eighth Amendment guaranteeing the right to pee
in a trough at a Mets game next to a guy bragging
how he once met Wally Backman at a Denny's in Las Vegas. [ New York accent ]
Refused to take
a picture with me. Told me to go to hell.
Threw a plate of waffles at me. That's the kind of attitude
we need on this team right now! Get some run support for deGrom! [ Laughter ] Turns out that wasn't
a COVID issue. [ Laughter ] These voter suppression laws have been motivated by the lie that there was widespread fraud
in the 2020 election, which there was not. One of the biggest
purveyors of that lie has been Florida
Congressman Matt Gaetz. You know, the guy who looks like
he was drawn by Picasso. I mean, it'd be impossible
to even draw a political cartoon
about Matt Gaetz because Matt Gaetz already looks
like a political cartoon. "I don't know. I guess I'll make
his head look, uh, smaller?" I mean, look at that thing. Based on that noggin,
you'd expect his mouth to move like a "South Park" character. -Oh, hamburgers! [ Laughter ] -By the way,
he'd be a good substitutive if Mr. Met ever calls in sick. Gaetz repeatedly
claimed there was fraud, even after admitting
he didn't have any proof and that the Trump campaign
couldn't produce any proof. -I think the Department
of Justice has a lot of egg on their face
for having not discovered a lot of this fraud
as it was occurring. David, as you know,
this is very hard to find, prove, and obtain relief on
after the fact because so many of the
ballots get commingled. -So, according to Gaetz,
the fact that you can't prove there was fraud
proves there was fraud. That's the same argument
your college roommate made to prove aliens
built the pyramids. [ Stoner voice ]
If aliens are advanced enough
to build pyramids then they'd also be
advanced enough to make sure they don't leave any proof
that they built the pyramids. So, if there's no proof
aliens built the pyramids, then that means aliens
built the pyramids. Krrkkhh! [ Laughter ] Or not.
[ Laughter ] Gaetz has been
on the vanguard of Trumpism. He's been one of the former
president's most loyal defenders and one of the strongest
advocates of turning the GOP
into a megaphone for Trumpism by embracing,
among other things, wild conspiracy theories about everything
from the election to COVID, to the January 6th insurrection. For example, you might remember
that, on that day, as soon as members returned
to the House floor, Gaetz cited a debunked rumor that the mob was actually full
of antifa activists. -The Washington Times
has just reported some pretty compelling evidence from a facial
recognition company, showing that some of the people
who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters. They were masquerading
as Trump supporters -[ Shouting ]
-and, in fact, were members of the violent
terrorist group antifa. -Alright, first of all,
you'd think Matt Gaetz, of all people,
would learn not to trust facial recognition software, since it would probably
recognize his face as a Terry Gilliam animation or a brick
with a face drawn on it. Matt Gaetz shouldn't be
in Congress. He should be in the waiting room
from "Beetlejuice." If you ran Gaetz through facial
recognition software, the computer would
probably think it was a Tom Cruise Pez dispenser. He's got a weird head, you guys. [ Laughter ] Gaetz was such an avid defender
of the former president, Gaetz even said
he'd quit his job to go defend Trump
in the Senate. -Would you resign,
in order to defend the president the way that you want
to defend him? -I love my district. I love representing them. But I view this cancelation
of the Trump presidency and the Trump movement as one
of the major risks to my people, both in my district and all
throughout this great country. Absolutely. If the president called me and wanted me to go defend him
on the floor of the Senate, that would be the top
priority in my life. I would leave my House seat. I would leave my home. I would do anything I had to do. -Captures the state of the
modern GOP so perfectly that Gaetz thinks the best way
to defend his party is to stop being a congressman and just join
Trump's legal team -- a pillow, turtleneck,
and Giuliani. [ As Gaetz ]
If I could, I would deliver a way too loud speech filled with misinformation
and poor syntax, but, alas, me only congressman. And why leave your home? [ As Gaetz ]
I'd leave my job, my home. I'd shed my clothes
and roam the forest, subsisting on grubs and berries,
navigated by starlight, until I reached the floor
of the Senate, and then, I would
defend the president with a series of grunts
and chest thumps. I mean, you'd really do all that
to defend Donald Trump? I mean, how can
I get loyalty like that? I once got accused of stealing a muffin from the
NBC commissary and, when I asked Wally
to vouch for me, he said, "I've never seen
that man before." -You were wearing a mask! -It's been over a year! Learn what the top half
of my face looks like. -Uh. -[ Mumbles mockingly ]
[ Laughter ] That's how --
[ Mutters ] [ Laughter ] That's how devoted Gaetz
has been, not just to Trumpism,
as an ideological project, but to the man himself
and, now that Gaetz is facing a federal investigation
and House ethics probe into, among other things, alleged sex trafficking
with his... ...Gaetz has been snubbed
by his political idol. -The House Ethics Committee
has just announced it's launching
a formal investigation into the embattled Florida Republican
Congressman Matt Gaetz. -The accusations
are stacking up. The Daily Beast now reporting that Gaetz sent two late night
Venmo transactions in May 2018 for $900 to his friend
Joel Greenberg, a former Seminole County,
Florida, tax collector and accused sex offender. -Sources tell CNN that embattled Republican
Congressman Matt Gaetz was recently denied a meeting with former President Trump
at Mar-a-Lago. Aides reportedly told Mr. Trump
not to publicly "stick his neck out"
to defend Gaetz, who is being investigated now by the Department of Justice
for sex trafficking. -Well, in fairness,
I'm not sure Trump has a neck to stick out. His head is more
like a third shoulder. There's a good chance that,
during one of his helicopter-adjacent
press conferences, the propeller lopped
his head off and they had to sew it back
onto his torso on the taxpayer's dime! [ As Trump ]
Took me to Walter Reed. They got the best neck guy. What a harrowing ride
in the helicopter. Same helicopter. [ Laughter ] And I'm just sitting there. The team of doctors
looking at my body, another one holding my head
in the crook of his arm. [ Laughter ]
And I'm watching
the whole thing. And I'm thinking,
"Goodbye to that body." [ Laughter ] And, right before I
passed out... [ Laughter ] ...I'll never forget
the last thing I said. I said, "Cut the head off Eric's
and give me his body." [ Laughter ] Regeneron! They use Regeneron,
an amazing -- an amazing drug. It comes in a pill or a glue. [ Laughter ] They just sort of caulk it
onto your body, put the head back on. Doctor said to me, "Sir..." [ Laughter ] "...we couldn't believe that the
blade went through your skin." Toughest skin they've ever seen. [ Laughter ]
Rich, they said, like rich Corinthian leather. [ Laughter ] Ricardo Montalban. [ Laughter ] Bad guy, mean guy. [ Laughter ] That is --
[ Laughs ] [ Laughter ] That is -- Nice to me, though. You guys, of course Trump
is refusing to meet with one of his most
loyal defenders, now that Gaetz is
in legal trouble. Haven't these guys
learned anything? Trump will never return
the loyalty you show him, ever. That's why
he's never had a dog. If Trump played fetch
with a golden retriever, the first time he brought back
the tennis ball, Trump would present the dog
with a bill. So Trump's dodging Gaetz,
after Gaetz spent years parroting Trump's
most unhinged lies. Next thing you know, Trump's
going to start acting like he doesn't even know
Matt Gaetz's name. -"It was Trump's fault."
It's always Trump's fault. Can it ever be like
Rick Gaetz's fault? [ Laughter ]
I mean -- It's always Trump's fault,
Rick. Every single guy, even if they
hated me, they'd all contribute. But, Rick, you understand that I
don't want to make those calls. -In fairness, he definitely
looks more like a Rick than a Matt,
although I'm guessing Trump just calls everyone Rick,
if he forgets their name. I mean, he lives in Florida,
so it probably works about 60% of the time. [ As Trump ]
And, now, I'd like to introduce the former first lady,
my beautiful wife, my best friend,
lifelong companion. Rick!
[ Laughter ] Rick!
Don't be like that. [ Laughter ] Trump's not the only Republican apparently turning
his back on Gaetz. Conservatives, in general,
including Gaetz's buddies on Fox News, which has... ...have suddenly gone quiet,
although part of that may be due to the fact that,
even though he's on TV all the damn time,
nobody seems to like him much. -Another day,
and yet, very little response from his fellow Republicans. -Right. [ Laughs ] Well, it's an open secret that he's not well-liked
among Republicans. -He has no one in Congress -- Not no one, but almost no one who really wants to stand
with him right now. He has very few defenders. -Gaetz's own aides... -[ Laughs ] -...meaning they didn't
even like the guy. -Gaetz was never
particularly popular among his House Republican
colleagues. -They're probably just jealous
that Matt Gaetz is the only elected man
in the Republican Party who gives a [bleep]
about his clothes. I'm not saying I like his style,
but at least he has one. The rest of them look like
they buy their suits at... "We're going to hate the way
you look, so why bother?" Does this mean even Jim Jordan
won't come to Gaetz's aid, the Donkey to his Shrek? I have to say,
it's so funny that Republicans are suddenly telling reporters
how much they hate Matt Gaetz. They sound like a bunch
of mean high schoolers. You can just picture Ted Cruz
and Kevin McCarthy gossiping at their lockers
in the congressional hallway. [ As McCarthy ]
Matt invited me to his house to do whippits in his basement
and I said no. [ As Cruz ]
Well, I told Matt I couldn't go
over to this house after school to check out his pet lizard because I had to comb
the lice out of my beard. Now, let's go shake
Lindsey Graham upside down. [ As Graham ]
Fellas, I don't have
any lunch money. Meemaw packs me a pudding
and some Lunchables every day and tells me I don't deserve it
because I interrupt her while she's flirting
with the mailman. He's got other houses
to get to, Meemaw! [ Laughter ] One of the last friends
Gaetz seemed to have left was this guy, Joel Greenberg, who's been indicted and faces
33 federal charges as part of the investigation
that ensnared Gaetz. Greenberg is the former
Seminole County tax collector, which is like a job out of Small Town Corruption
Mad Libs. If you're the Seminole County
tax collector and you get business cards
printed up, they automatically add... Of course
this dude was corrupt. Look at him.
A lawyer in a labor dispute involving a former employee
told The New York Times... A statement meant
to be hyperbolic, but, when said in the context
of the state of Florida, seemed like a thing that
might've already happened. I made an intern rewatch
that Tiger man thing and, no, he was never
a tax collector, but he did run for governor
and he did do pretty well. And, by the way, even if he was
the actual Tiger King, it would still probably
lead them back to Matt Gaetz. [ As Gaetz ]
Yes, I Venmo'd Carole Baskin! With the subject line "Husband"
and a shovel emoji. So what?
That could mean anything. And, if you give me three days,
I promise to come up with at least one other
possible explanation. Greenberg's been accused
of an impressively long and diverse litany of crimes
and other inappropriate conduct. According to The Times, he... Okay, first of all,
I got my groomsmen tie clips that were engraved
with the words "Thank you." So, if you feel the need
to get your groomsmen no-show jobs, I mean,
you're hushing them up after someone drowned
on a fishing trip, right? Also, he had fake IDs
in his backpack? Is he a county tax collector or the coolest kid
in the eighth grade? Where did they arrest him,
outside a liquor store, buying beer for teenagers? But, apparently, Greenberg
wasn't Gaetz's only wingman. He was also close
with yet another impossibly Floridian character, who's now been implicated
in the investigation as well. -CBS News has learned
that investigators are scrutinizing a trip
Congressman Matt Gaetz took to the Bahamas with this man,
Jason Pirozzolo, a marijuana entrepreneur, Orlando hand surgeon, and donor to Gaetz. -My name is Dr. Jason Pirozzolo, with Orlando Hand Surgery
Associates. -Multiple sources familiar
with the federal probe tells CBS News Pirozzolo
and Gaetz traveled to the Bahamas in late 2013
or early 2019 and Pirozzolo... One key question
for investigators -- were the women
illegally trafficked across state
or international lines for the purposes of sex
with the congressman? -That's right,
Gaetz went to the Bahamas with an Orlando hand surgeon who's also a marijuana
entrepreneur. The only way that could be a more perfectly
Floridian occupation is if he added owner and operator of fan boat traveling
funeral parlor for kids. Also, I'm just curious.
When you're in medical school, choosing a specialty,
how do you land on hands? Was he high when they asked him? "So, Doctor,
what do you want to focus on?" -Krrkkhh! [ Laughter ] Krrkkhh! [ Stoner voice ]
I've always liked looking
at my hands. Or necks? [ Laughter ] Matt Gaetz was supposed
to be one of the leaders of the next generation
of Trumpism in the GOP. Now, he's isolated, embattled,
and under federal investigation, like so many other members
of Trump's inner circle, including, of course,
Trump himself. It's emblematic of the state
of the modern GOP. Gaetz has denied all the
allegations, but who knows? If the feds continue
to close in on him, maybe I'll finally
make good on his promise. -I would leave my House seat. I would leave my home. -This has been
"A Closer Look." ♪♪ God's Love We Deliver
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Argument from silence, maybe.