-As President Biden was abroad trying to restore America's
relationship with key allies, we found out about
yet another bombshell scandal from the Trump era in which
Trump's Justice Department spied on Democratic lawmakers who were investigating him
during the Russia probe. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." President Biden
is currently abroad for his first major
international trip, meeting with leaders
of the G7 and NATO and trying to reassure allies
that America is back after four years
of erratic leadership. From a guy who once
literally shoved his way past a bunch of world leaders
at a NATO summit like a maid of honor trying to
catch the bouquet at a wedding. "You've already
been married twice, Becky. I need this. Because some of us are hard
to love, Becky!" Compare that to Biden, who was amicably chatting it up
with world leaders and at one case even walked
behind the rest of the group like a grandpa at Disney World. "You guys go ahead. I'm gonna ride the tram
back and forth to the parking lot
until you're done. I like looking at the cars. That's my Epcot." Biden's message at these
meetings has been simple -- America is back,
you know, like the McRib. America's back.
For a limited time only. Offer not valid in Florida. Although if were
a foreign leader, you know, I would take it
with a grain of salt. I mean, yes,
Biden is president now, but America definitely
has a split personality. And who knows how long
this one's gonna last? If Dr. Jekyll said, "I'm back,"
it would be fair to ask if he threw away the serum
that turned him into Mr. Hyde. And if he responded, "The
important thing is I'm back, relax,"
I'm not sure would you relax. Still, Biden's message
seems to be working. French president
Emmanuel Macron, for example, seemed very excited to have
an American president willing to work with European
allies to solve common problems. -We have to deal with this
pandemic and the COVID-19. We have to face a lot
of changes, a lot of crisis, climate change, and for all these issues,
what we need is cooperation. And I think it's great
to have a U.S. president part of the club
and very willing to cooperate. And I think that
what you demonstrate is that leadership
is partnership. -It's nice to hear some optimism
for a change. Usually when you hear a French
guy say America is back, it's because
he's watching someone take picture of the "Mona Lisa"
with an iPad. [ French accent ]
Oh, great, America is back with their Crocs and their
Bart Simpson T-shirts. It is I that say "ay caramba"
to this. [ Normal voice ] Also,
watching those two pal around must be a real burn for Trump. He was so desperate
to be friends with Macron, he shook his hand like he was
trying to get a candy machine to drop his PayDay bar and held on longer than someone
falling out of a helicopter. And then, of course,
there was the time Trump was so nervous
to be with Macron, he brushed dandruff
off his shoulder. [ As Donald Trump ]
You have a booger in your nose. Mind if I get that for you? Garçon, can you bring us
your smallest spoon? [ French accent ] Ugh.
America is back. You do the Bartman. [ Normal voice ]
That said, Biden's trip has had its
awkward moments, too. For one, there was that awkward
socially distanced picture of the G7 leaders
where they look like "Street Fighter" characters
no one wants to pick. They should all be doing
that video game character thing where they bounced in place
in their signature pose. Biden just standing there
with his dukes up. And every time
you hover over him, he says his catchphrase --
"Come on, man." Then there was an odd moment
where a reporter asked Biden about some Trump-era
trade policies he hasn't rolled back yet. And Biden, well,
he seemed a little irked. -Yes. -At the same time,
you've kept in place some Trump-era steel
and aluminum sanctions. And I wanted to ask you, when you're having
these conversations with European allies who are very concerned
about these sanctions, how do you justify that? And what are your plans to -- -120 days.
Give me a break. Need time. -Why does he sound like Superman
holding a rod of Kryptonite? [ Strained voice ] Need time. Must bring...America back. [ Normal voice ] The point is,
Biden's trying to leave the Trump era behind
on the world stage even as the GOP tries
to keep it alive here at home either by recommitting
themselves to Trumpism or by trying to whitewash the
many lies and abuses of power. Trump's former press secretary
Kayleigh McEnany, for example,
said this on Sunday. -And then there was
the question, "Will you ever lie to us?" And I said,
without hesitation, no. And I never did. I never lied. I sourced my information, but that will never stop the
press from calling you a liar. -Wow, it's impressive
to lie about lying. It's like stabbing a witness
during your murder trial. We shouldn't care what a proven
liar has to say about anything, especially the question
of whether she lied or not. I mean, no one asks Vanilla Ice to come up with an original beat
anymore. Listening to McEnany explain
how she didn't lie is like listening to Ice explain how his song was different
from "Under Pressure." -Like, it goes, ding-ding-ding
diggy ding ding, ding-ding-ding diggy ding ding. That's the way theirs goes. Ours goes, ding-ding-ding
diggy ding ding tch, ding-ding-ding-ding
diggy ding ding. That little bitty "ting."
It's not the same. -Yeah.
It's not the same. That's how I sound
explaining the difference between my Werner Herzog
and Christoph Waltz impressions. Except that I'm right. The difference is subtle,
but it's there. Werner's like [As Werner]
"The clock is ticking." And Christoph's like
[As Christoph] "Yes! The clock is ticking!" [ Normal voice ] Look,
if you can't hear difference between German and Austrian,
then that's on you. Ding, ding-ding di-di-ding-ding. [ Laughter ] Now, obviously,
we could spend all day laying out McEnany's
most egregious lies, like the time she defended
Trump's claim that COVID would disappear and described the resurgence
of cases as "embers" or the time she went on TV
with binders full of bull[bleep] to spread the big lie that there
was fraud in the 2020 election. If you ask me,
she should be the one doing a weekly digital segment
called "Corrections" where she has to defend herself
from hoards of Internet jackals critiquing her every utterance. Oh, and as a reminder,
don't miss "Corrections," available every Friday morning
online. "Corrections,"
it's a massive waste of time. McEnany and the rest
of the Trump crowd are eager to rewrite the history
of the Trump era, whether it's COVID
or the 2020 election or the January 6th insurrection. And that's because it's still
very much Trump's party. In fact, one thing that's become
clear about the post-Trump era is that if the GOP
gets their way, there won't be a post-Trump era. The Republican Party
remains deeply committed to both the ideology and the cult of personality
that is Trumpism. Last week, for example, the
number-three House Republican, Elise Stefanik,
who just replaced Liz Cheney after Cheney criticized Trump
for inciting an insurrection, posted a photo of herself
with Trump and the caption, "Save America." "Save Amer--" I wouldn't count
on Trump to save a drowning man if he was standing in
a life boat filled with buoys. [ As Donald Trump ] They're
100 bucks each or two for $200. That's a great deal.
What's that? I can't hear you with all
that water in your mouth. [ Normal voice ] It's not an
encouraging sign for the health
of our democracy that the GOP's biggest names
and rising stars are happily posing for photos with the deeply unpopular
autocrat who's still lying
about the election and sowed a violent insurrection
to stay in power. It's like the captain
of your cruise shipment posing for a pic with an iceberg and the caption,
"Great running into you." And it's not like
they're just winking and trying to be subtle
about it. The GOP has been explicit
that the twice-impeached Trump, who never once
won the popular vote and continues to be
deeply unpopular in polls, is the leader of their party. And they've made it clear
they don't want him to go away. -We are a pro-America
populist party rooted in conservative principle
with Donald Trump as our leader. -It's impossible for this party
to move forward without President Trump
being its leader. -They look at Donald J. Trump and they look at the millions
and millions of people inspired who went to battle fighting
alongside President Trump, and they're terrified. And they want him to go away. Let me tell you this right now. Donald J. Trump
ain't going anywhere. -Ted Cruz's normal voice
is deeply grating, but when he tries
to fire up a crowd, it's like watching an accordion
player bust out a kazoo. If Ted Cruz has given the speech
at the end of "Braveheart," the Scottish army would have just laid down their arms
and gone home. [ Scottish accent ] Oh,
I don't care for him at all. [ Normal voice ]
It's like that, Lloyd. That's how it's
supposed to sound. [ Laughter ] The Republican Party
has made clear that if it gets back into power
in 2022 or 2024, they'll follow in Trump's
footsteps, which is terrifying and why it's
all the more important for us to take
a thorough accounting of Trump's many abuses of power. Last week, for example, we learned of yet another
shocking scandal. The Trump DOJ sought the private
communication records of Democrats who were
investigating the president. -This is the headline tonight
in "The New York Times"... ...meaning members of Congress
who are Democrats. "As the Justice Department
investigated who was behind leaks
of classified information early in
the Trump administration, it took highly unusual step. Prosecutors subpoenaed Apple,"
the company Apple, "for data from the accounts of at least two
Democratic members of Congress on the House
Intelligence Committee and staffers and family members. One of those family members
was a child, a minor." According to committee officials and two other people
briefed on the inquiry, all told, the records
of at least a dozen people tied to the Intelligence
Committee were seized in 2017 and early 2018, including the records
of Congressman Adam Schiff of California,
who was then the top Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee who is now the chairman
of that committee. Prosecutors,
under the beleaguered Trump attorney general
Jeff Sessions, were hunting for the sources
behind news media reports about contacts between
Trump associates and Russia. -Every time you think we're done
with Trump scandals, there's a new bombshell. 40 years from now, I'm gonna
be sitting at this desk with long gray hair tied back in one of those cool
old-man buns with cataract glasses
and a doughnut cushion talking about
the latest Trump scandal, like how CNN is reporting
that President Trump ordered the space force to nuke
every dog in the country. And then
for the rest of the show, Wally and I will just
play backgammon while he holds up a cue card
reading, "Is the AC on? I'm boiling!" And yet somehow, all of the
major Justice Department leaders during Trump's tenure are now claiming they had no
idea any of this was happening. -Trump's Department of Justice asked the company for data
about Democrats, reporters, and now we have these details about members of his own
administration. But the people in charge
at the time, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions,
and Rod Rosenstein, all reportedly say
they didn't know about it. -Sure, guys,
none of you know about it. They're talking about the United
States Department of Justice, which they ran,
like CVS employees when you ask if they
sell Claritin. "Oh, man, never heard of it." "But you work here, right?" "I mean, maybe." "But it says CVS Staff
on your shirt." "Oh, no, that's CV's. It's a barbecue joint downtown
at which I also do not work." This is why House Democrats
need to start issuing subpoenas and conducting
a thorough investigation to find out who knew what
and when. I mean, how can it be possible that none of these guys
were aware what was happening? The Justice Department spies
on senior House Democrats investigating the president and no one at the top
knows about it? These guys are acting like
exhausted Park Slope parents who let their kids loose at the
playground without supervision. "Excuse me. Your son just
pushed my kid off a swing." "Oh, did he?
Juniper! Juniper, what do we say
about physical aggression? It's a manifestation
of our subconscious impulses. Juniper! Juniper, knock it off, or I will
take you out of this world!" So sorry. I should not have had
that second matcha latte. And look,
Barr can say what he wants, but we have no reason
to believe him, given that he's a proven liar who covered up
the Mueller report and clearly had something
he was trying to hide during this suspicious exchange with then-senator Kamala Harris
in 2019. -Has the president
or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you
open an investigation of anyone? Yes or no, please, sir. -The president or anybody else. -Seems you would remember
something like that and be able to tell us. -Yeah, but I'm trying to grapple
with the word "suggest." I mean, there have been
discussions of matters out there that they have not asked me
to open an investigation. -Perhaps they suggested? -I don't know.
I wouldn't say suggest. -Hinted? -I don't know.
-Inferred? You don't know.
Okay. -Based on those answers, he'd
make a hell of a CVS employee. When someone hems and haws
like that, the answer is yes. If you ask your co-worker
at 7-Eleven, "Brad, did you take a [bleep]
in the slushie machine?" And he says, "Well,
I'm trying to grapple with the word 'take.'" I got to be honest, even with
the employee discount, I'd pass on getting
that slushie. Also, you can tell Harris
knew something was up. That whole exchange was like
one of those viral videos where someone scolds a dog
that just tore a sofa to pieces. The Republican Party
is not only trying to rewrite the history
of the Trump era, they've made it clear that if
they make it back into power, they'll repeat it, which is why
it's all the more important to hold Trump and his cronies
accountable for the many abuses of power. Subpoena them,
put them under oath, and grill them
in full view of the public. And just to make it clear
that they're under pressure, you can always play this
during their testimony. -Ding-ding-ding
diggy ding ding tch, ding-ding-ding-ding
diggy ding ding. -That wasn't "Under Pressure." That was "Ice Ice Baby." Someone [bleep] up. This has been "A Closer Look." God's Love We Deliver cooks and brings
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