-The GOP is intent on using the power of the state to punish critics
and suppress votes as one of their former
rising stars, Matt Gaetz, faces an intensifying
investigation in which authorities
seized his phone last winter. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ The Republican Party
is currently in the political wilderness. They've lost the presidency and both houses of Congress and their previous
standard bearer never once cracked 50% approval. Meanwhile,
the Biden administration is winning high marks and polls
on its COVID response, its early slate of executive
orders, and the economy, which is why Republicans are desperately grasping
for ways to attack him and ending up with some
very bizarre critiques. -John Cornyn tweeted
what, now, we know is a quote from a Politico piece
about Joe Biden... And he goes on to say... -You got him! He's not tweeting
and saying commentaries about Arnold Schwarzenegger's
"Apprentice" ratings or retweeting suggestions
that Osama bin Laden might still be alive --
a real thing Trump did. So the only conclusion
we can reach is that there must be
a secret cabal of antifa deep state socialists
who are really running things, while Biden sits around having normal thoughts
with his normal brain. Republicans are obsessed with the idea
that Biden is a puppet, when Trump was like a Muppet, they introduced
on "Sesame Street" to teach kids
about impulse control. [ As Cookie Monster ]
Where all my cookies go? [ As Trump ]
Sorry, CM. I ate 'em all.
[ Laughter ] These guys actually think
Americans want a president constantly tweeting
psychotic, all-caps stuff at 3:00 am
about having his wires tapped, and screaming at reporters
on the White House lawn with a helicopter whirring
in the background like it's the final scene
in "MASH." Second "M-A-S-H" reference
in two days! Come on, TikTokers,
bring on your remixes. If you could do it
for sea shanties, you can do it for Alan Alda. And, with all due respect
to Jeremy Renner, that'll always be my Hawkeye. Oh, he didn't have arrows, but he always had
a quiver full o' quips. Say what you will about the guy,
Biden keeps it simple. Yesterday, for example,
he was asked about his decision to finally withdraw troops
from Afghanistan. Now, if reporters had asked
Trump that question, they would've gotten
a 10-minute answer that somehow wound its way
to the time he met Marlo Thomas at Elaine's. [ As Trump ]
"That Girl." What a show. She hated me and you know what?
[ Laughter ] She was right. [ Laughter ]
A lot of evidence out there that I'm a bad guy. But when Biden was asked the
question, he was very direct. A solemn moment
and a direct answer. Reporters who cover
the White House probably have to figure out
what to do with all the leftover space
in their notepads. When they were covering
Trump's White House, they probably
couldn't distinguish between their notepads
and their dream journals. "Did I fall asleep reading
e.e. cummings again?" So that's one reason
Biden's numbers are higher than Trump's everywhere,
not to mention the fact that Biden's policies
are more popular. And, as a result,
Republicans are stuck complaining that Biden
doesn't tweet enough. And, as the Cornyn comments
show, Trump may be gone, but Trumpism,
as an ideological project, as well as the performance
of Trumpism, are very much ascendant
within the Republican Party. As we speak, the GOP
is actively trying to use the power of the state to punish
anyone who disagrees with them, the latest example being
Major League Baseball. -Three Republican senators
are looking to put pressure
on Major League Baseball after it decided to pull the
All-Star Game out of Georgia, the league making the move
to protest Georgia's controversial
new voting law. Senators Ted Cruz,
Mike Lee, and Josh Hawley are introducing
legislation today to eliminate
a nearly century-old antitrust exemption
for Major League Baseball, as a way of punishing
the league. -So the America First crowd is
going after America's pastime. What's next,
you guys going to try to cancel blue jeans
and pickup trucks? Oh, right, I forgot. Cruz already canceled
blue jeans. Yikes! [ Laughter ]
He really puts the "dung" in "dungarees."
[ Laughter ] I have to say,
it's especially surprising that Ted Cruz is going
after baseball, given that he has the beard of a 40-year-old
journeyman pitcher on a 1986 Topps card. [ Laughter ] Wearing a uniform from 1918. [ Laughter ] So Republicans want to use
the power of the Senate to punish anyone
who criticizes them. They're also plotting to steal
the presidency and Congress without actually
winning elections. That's what all these voter suppression bills
are designed to do. For example, you might remember when Trump's lawyer
Rudy Giuliani flew around the country, trying to convince
state legislatures to overturn their election
results, or when Trump advisor/underground lab
assistant Stephen Miller claimed that states Biden won
were sending so-called alternate slates
of electors to Washington to vote for Trump. -We have more than enough time to right the wrong of this
fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump
as the winner of the election. As we speak today,
an alternate slate of electors in the contested states
is going to vote and we're going to send
those results up to Congress. -Obviously, as we explained
at the time, alternate slates of electors
aren't a real thing, though, I bet Steven Miller
tried to use an alternate slate of electors
in high school, to get voted Most Charismatic,
instead of Most Likely to Chase Down an Iguana
on an Episode of "Planet Earth." But the important point is
Republicans are now trying to make that fake thing real. They're actually trying
to pass laws that would allow them to subvert
election results in their states and award Electoral College
votes to a candidate who loses. They're not saying
that outright, of course, but the actual text
of these laws definitely opens
the possibility. -We just lived
through a president who tried to overturn those results,
specifically, in Georgia and there are concerns
this new bill would allow, potentially,
for more chicanery. As you well know, reading
from The New York Times, just a brief summary, it says, "beyond the provisions
on the voting" -- that's up until Election Day -- "the new law risks making
election subversion easier," including appearing
to go directly after some of those officials, like the secretary of state,
who drew Trump's ire precisely because they did their jobs
in a nonpartisan way. -It gives state election
officials more power to intervene
in county elections. State leaders are now able
to appoint or remove local election officials. -It's obvious
what's happening here. They just want to make it
easier to do, next time, what they tried to do last time. If you wake up
to find your roommate holding a pillow above your head because you heard his shoes
squeak on the floorboards, don't relax when he goes out
and buys slippers. This is all motivated
by the unhinged lie that there was widespread fraud
in the 2020 election, which there was not,
and one of the loudest champions of that lie was Florida
Congressman Matt Gaetz, who was supposed to be
one of the leaders in the next wave of Trumpism
in the GOP. Gaetz objected to the lawful
counting of electoral votes, even after the January 6th
insurrection, and claimed that,
despite the Trump campaign losing dozens of court cases, they were actually proving
that there was fraud. -Election fraud really
requires two things. One, a very large pool
of unaccounted-for ballots that aren't attached to a human; and then, second is the rapid
processing of those ballots. Then, they exclude the observers
and then, they just wrap those polluted ballots
into a broader universe, and I think that is where
we're proving the fraud. -None of that makes sense. I can't even follow the syntax
or the metaphors. A large pool of ballots, and then they wrap
the pool of ballots into a broader universe
of ballots? What does any of that mean? You sound like a tour guide
at MoMA, trying to describe a Dalí painting you're seeing
for the first time. "So, uh, you know, the bricks
are wrapped inside the, um, lake. Uh, the lake,
of course, represents time?
I'm sorry I got confused. I thought this was the museum
with all the big bony things, whatever they called.
You know." Now, as we've been telling you, Gaetz is under investigation for alleged sex trafficking involving his wingman, the former Seminole County
tax collector Joel Greenberg, who's been charged
with 33 counts and is reportedly cooperating
with authorities, including offering
information on Gaetz and, every day, we get new
details about the investigation. -A source familiar with the case confirms Greenberg
told investigators details about how he and Gaetz
would pay women for sex with cash and gifts,
in possible violation of prostitution
and sex trafficking laws. According to receipts
reviewed by CNN, Gaetz and Greenberg
used digital payment apps, including Venmo,
to send hundreds of dollars to at least one woman
who attended these parties. -Politico has revealed the explosive news
that federal agents executed a search warrant and seized Gaetz's phone
this past winter. -I'm no lawyer, but it can't be
good when they seize your phone. No one's happy to have
their phone seized. I don't even like it
when I show someone a picture and they grab the phone
out of my hand and then I have to mutter, [ Shakily ]
"Don't scroll, don't scroll," [ Laughter ]
until I get it back. I'm not even happy when my wife
asks me to use mine. "You want to tell me
what this is?" Uh, YouTube clips
of old "M-A-S-H" episodes. [ Laughter ]
"I thought you said
you were working!" I am working! The "M-A-S-H" references
are the most popular part of "A Closer Look"!
[ Laughter ] You are being a real
Charles Winchester. [ Laughter ] Chances are pretty high that,
if you've broken the law, there's evidence
of it on your phone, especially since Gaetz
was reportedly using a cash app and Venmo to make payments
to his indicted buddy. Used to be, when politicians
broke the law, they stuffed an envelope full
of $100 bills and met their contact
in a parking garage. Now, they just Venmo
a buddy with an emoji of an envelope stuffed
with cash. We also keep finding out more about what these dudes
were up to and what kind of parties
they were hanging out at. -Now, we have learned
these parties were held at a house in a gated community
in suburban Orlando. The women we spoke with said,
when some of the women arrived, there were rules. For example, the first thing
some of them were asked to do is put away their cellphones. Now, one of the women told us
the attendees included a who's who of local
Republican officials and often included
Congressman Gaetz, and these men just did not want their activities at these
parties being documented. And we're told folks mingled
and shared drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy. -If they ever make
a Florida version of the board game "Clue," "gated community
in suburban Orlando" should be one of the locations, right next to "animal
sanctuary in Tampa." You know, my grandmother
used to say, "Nothing good ever happens
after midnight," and I'd say the same is true
about anything that happens at a party in a gated community
in suburban Orlando where they make you
give up your phone. "Well, they probably don't
want us to use our phones to Google answers
for what I'm sure will be a night of trivia games. Oh, cocaine! Looks like it'll be
a late night." [ Laughter ]
As a general rule, never go to a party in a gated
community in suburban Orlando where they make you
give up your phone. Orlando's for two things -- going to theme parks or buying exotic fish
from an unlicensed dealer who works out of the back
of a pet food store. "I got piranhas,
lionfish, snakeheads, and, for another $100,
I'll throw in this bad boy." [ Laughter ]
We're also learning more about a trip Gaetz
allegedly took, which are also under scrutiny
by the feds, and who he traveled with. -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. -CBS News reporting that Gaetz's
trip to the Bahamas is part of a federal probe into the sex trafficking
allegation. Here's a little bit of it... -An Orlando hand surgeon/
marijuana entrepreneur. Man, Florida never disappoints. I'm shocked Gaetz
wasn't also buds with an alligator named Rick, who sold CBD oil
on the Miami Beach boardwalk. And, now, the heat on Gaetz
is intensifying, to the point where Republicans
don't know how to respond. Yesterday, House Minority Whip
Steve Scalise was asked about Gaetz and stammered his way
through an answer. -Well, you know,
we've heard a lot of stories. I mean, obviously,
I've read the media reports, but, there's been nothing
that we've seen, yet, from the Department of Justice. If something's going on, obviously,
we'll find out about it. You know, right now, it seems
hard to speculate on rumors, but, you know, if something really formal happened
from Justice, we would, of course, react
and take action. -It's so funny to watch
Republicans get flustered by questions about Gaetz, after they let him take
center stage for so long. [ As Scalise ]
Look, we -- I don't know
the facts, but if the, you know,
the allegations about, uh,
ecstasy-fueled house parties with the dude
who was later indicted for sex trafficking
and flights to the Bahamas with the marijuana-loving
hand surgeon are true, then, yeah, you know, I -- I think we might, you know,
we might do something. We'll do something
about it, right? And, as for Gaetz,
he continues to maintain the whole thing is a setup
egged on by the media and, in particular,
he got into a heated exchange with a CNN reporter as he left
the Capitol on Tuesday. -Well, I think you
can read my essay in The Washington Examiner. I think you can check out
the work that your network has done
to propagandize lies about me. I think that really ought
to concern you, Manu. You've always considered
yourself a real journalist, but that doesn't strike me
as real journalism.
-What about the updates from today?
-Are you concerned about the House Ethics investigation? Are you going to cooperate
with the investigation, sir? -I'd say, along with getting
your phone seized, being chased
down a flight of stairs by a crowd of reporters
and getting hustled in the back seat
of a waiting car isn't a sign
that things are going great. That's classic
corrupt-politician stuff. No one ever, in that situation,
is in it for a good reason. "Sir, sir, can you tell us
how you cured cancer?" I didn't cure cancer! Stop spreading lies about me! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be rushed
into this unmarked van. This is the state
of the modern GOP, an authoritarian movement intent on dismantling democracy
and suppressing dissent. Gaetz was supposed to be one
of the leaders of the next wave of Trumpism and, now, like so many others
in Trump's inner circle, he's found himself
in legal hot water. Who knows what'll happen to him? But, if he does get
taken away by the feds, I hope we can send
him off like this -- [ Rotors whirring ] [ Johnny Mandel's
"Suicide Is Painless" plays ] ♪♪ [ Laughter ] You know what it's been. [ Laughter ] ♪♪ God's Love We Deliver
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