-The president's use
of a Sharpie to doctor an official
hurricane forecast is now an actual scandal that has prompted multiple
official investigations. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ -So you remember how
like two weeks ago, there was this whole thing
where a dangerous hurricane named Dorian was headed toward
the United States, and so the president, you know,
the guy whose job it is to protect Americans,
tweeted out that Alabama will most likely be hit
much harder than anticipated. And then some people in Alabama
started to freak out. So then the National
Weather Service had to be like, "No, Alabama will not see
any impacts from Dorian." And instead of just
letting it go, the president took out a big map
in the oval office and drew a little circle on it
with a Sharpie to include Alabama and make it
look like he was right? You know, like he was
accepting one of those giant novelty checks
for a thousand dollars, but then wrote in a bunch
of zeros and went, [ As Trump ] "Wow, you're
giving me a billion dollars? Too generous, but I accept.
No takebacks." [ Normal voice ]
You remember that whole thing? It was fun. Well, anyway, after like
a full week of coverage, we all thought it was over.
We wanted to let it go. The White House
wanted to let it go. Even the PR Department
at the Sharpie company was probably like, "Okay, maybe there is such
a thing as bad publicity." [ Laughter ] And I'm sure Alabama
wanted to let it go, because for a week
they were all, like, "Are we going to get hit
by a hurricane or not? Because I've been sleeping
on a cot in a high school gymnasium
for seven days." [ Laughter and applause ] Well, guess what -- It's not over. That's right. The whole insane Sharpie thing
is still going. First, we found out
earlier this week that staff at the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration were instructed
not to contradict the president's Sharpie
hurricane forecast. And then we found out that
the Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross,
threatened firings at NOAA after Trump's Dorian tweets. That's right, Wilbur Ross,
the guy who once tried to defend Trump's tariffs
on steel and aluminum by holding up a beer and can
of soup in a live TV interview, threatened to fire
actual scientists for contradicting the president. Look at this. He looks like
he's bringing hurricane supplies to Alabama. [ Higher-pitched voice ]
I -- I don't have water, but how about a soup and beer
party? [ Normal voice ] So Wilbur Ross
threatened to fire scientists for issuing accurate
weather forecasts that contradicted
the president's stupid tweets. But, hey, it's not like
Wilbur Ross has ever, himself, committed an actual fireable
offense, right? -A federal judge has taken
the extraordinary step in ruling that
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in bad faith
and broke several laws when he asked a citizenship
question to the 2020 census. -Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
held in contempt. Now this battle is all about
Ross hiding evidence that might show whether
Republicans changed the 2020 census
to discriminate and help their own party,
the GOP. -The president's
Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, stands accused
of misappropriating or outright stealing as much
as $120 million from former investors
and business partners. That's according to a new
investigation from "Forbes." -We all know Wilbur Ross
had problems before this. Aides have been saying from
the beginning he regularly falls asleep
in meetings. -Ross was famously caught
sleeping during Trump's speech to Muslim leaders
in Saudi Arabia back in May of 2017. -And on top of all that, two former colleagues remember
the Commerce Secretary taking handfuls of Sweet'N Low
packets from a nearby restaurant so he didn't have to go out
and buy some for himself. So he's an alleged criminal who took Sweet'N Low from
restaurants and falls asleep in meetings. He's like a character
from a Clint Eastwood movie where a bunch of old guys
plan a bank heist. [ Laughter ] [ Gruff voice ]
You guys grab the money, I'll grab the soup and beer. [ Laughter and applause ] [ Normal voice ] Also, just let
it sink in that Wilbur Ross is a billionaire
who steals Sweet'N Low, which is in no way sweet,
but it's plenty [bleep] low. I mean, how about instead
of a citizenship question, the census asks,
"Are you a billionaire who steals Sweet'N Low?" And if you answer yes,
we shoot you into space. [ Laughter ] So that was all stuff
that happened this week. And as a result, Democrats
called on Ross to resign and NOAA's Chief Scientist said he would investigate
what happened. Now, you think that would be
the end of it, but no, this insane story
is still a thing. In fact, it's even more
of a thing now because yesterday, we found out
that the White House itself was directly involved in efforts
to pressure officials at NOAA to side with the president
over their own scientists. -"The New York Times" reports that acting White House
Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told commerce secretary
Wilbur Ross to have the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, publicly disavow
this tweet that was sent by the National Weather Service
office in Birmingham, Alabama, which said the state would not
feel the effects of the storm. A senior administration official
told the "Times" Mulvaney wanted to correct
the record because he felt the Birmingham
tweet went too far. National Weather Service tweet
went too far. One that actually
forecasts the weather. [ Laughter ] -Think about how insane this is. Two of the most senior officials
in our government called up a scientific agency
and threatened to fire them unless they changed
their forecast about a dangerous hurricane
just so they could pretend the president was right
when he accidentally said a state that was not in the
Hurricane's path would get hit. I mean, what's next,
are they going to make Melania change her name to Melanie to
justify Trump's typo tweet? [ Laughter ] I'm shocked Trump
didn't just go all the way and make Congress pass
a disaster aid bill for Alabama. [ As Trump ]
I'm here in Montgomery to help rebuild
from the hurricane. And in the meantime, we'll be moving all these people
into temporary shelters. [ Normal voice ]
But my house is fine. [ As Trump ]
No, your house was destroyed. Here, look at this photo. [ Laughter ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Normal voice ] So... this insane, dumb thing
the president did that we all desperately
wanted to move on from will not go away. In fact, and this is real, this whole thing has now
triggered multiple official
investigations. NOAA's Chief Scientist
has said he would investigate why the agency backed Trump
over its experts on Dorian. The Commerce Department
Inspector General has opened an investigation,
and on Wednesday, a Democrat-controlled
House Science Committee kicked off its own inquiry. This all started with a Sharpie. If the pen is mightier
than the sword, the Sharpie
is a long-range missile. I mean, this is
an actual scandal now. There are multiple
investigations. That means there's a chance,
which would be awesome, we could have meteorologists
testifying before Congress. [ Cheers and applause ] [ Southern accent ] Please state
your name for the record. [ Normal voice ]
Uh, my name is Breeze Thunder. [ Southern accent ]
And Mr. Thunder, where did the president
tell you to lie? [ Normal voice ] Well, first,
the lies began over here, but then they eventually picked
up speed and moved down here. [ Laughter ] [ Southern accent ]
Also, And remember, remember, that you are
under oath. Mr. Thunder, is dew point
an actual thing? [ Normal voice ] No, it is not. [ Laughter ] Seriously, this is now
officially the craziest weather-related scandal America
has seen since this one. -Right now dew points in the 20s and near 30 degrees
across central Mississippi. Well, hey, there. -I don't know what's going on,
but Zane doesn't know. [ Laughter ]
Are you sure? Are you crazy sure?
-[ Laughs ] Well, we've got a little bit
of interesting things going on right now. Take a look at what's
going on right now. You want to point out
the weather right now? -Yeah, there are farts
everywhere and toots. I don't even know. It's crazy. [ Laughter ] -You laugh. You laugh. Trump just made that kid Director of
the National Weather Service. [ As Trump ] I'm hearing Alabama
is about to get hit very hard with farts and toots.
It's scary. But the National Guard
will be ringing -- will be bringing matches
and Glade PlugIns to the affected areas. [ Normal voice ] Yesterday Trump
was asked in the oval office about the report that
his Chief of Staff instructed NOAA to disavow
their own scientists and side with Trump, and Trump pretended
that he personally had nothing to do with it. -Did you tell
your Chief of Staff to have NOAA disavow those forecasters
to who said that Alabama was not --
-No, I never did that. I never did that. That's a whole hoax
by the fake news media when they talk about
the hurricane and when they talk about Florida
and they talk about Alabama. That stuff, just fake news. It was -- right from the
beginning, it was a fake story. -He just covers lies
with more lies. I'm surprised he didn't say... [ As Trump ] This is a really
hard week for me because -- and I didn't want to say this, but I was also
hit by the hurricane. [ Laughter and applause ] [ Normal voice ] So Trump
denied that he personally ordered his aides to intervene
and tell a scientific agency to lie about
a dangerous hurricane in order to justify
an embarrassing tweet and a map he doctored
with a Sharpie. Well, you'll never guess
what happened next. On Wednesday, the news broke
that, yes, it was, in fact, Trump who
ordered the Sharpie cover-up. -"New York Times" today
and "The Washington Post" revealed that the White House
and Donald Trump, himself, were behind threats against
weather forecasters who, wait for it --
forecasted the weather. "The Washington Post" adds
that the president, himself, was behind the threats
to the weather forecasters. President Trump told his staff that NOAA needed to deal
with the tweet that seemed to contradict
his statement that hurricane Dorian posed
a significant threat to Alabama. -Of course,
it was Trump who ordered it. Trump orders his aides to lie
all the time. He doesn't even let Mulvaney
cough in his presence without permission. -Trump, interrupting
his interview with ABC News, to scold his Chief of Staff,
Mick Mulvaney, for coughing
while he was speaking. -But at some point,
I hope they get it... -[ Coughs ]
...because it's a fantastic financial statement. It's a fantastic financial
statement. And -- Let's do that over. He's coughing in the middle
of my answer. -Yeah, okay.
-I don't like that, you know? -Your Chief of Staff --
-If you're going to cough, please leave the room.
-We should get a shot of -- and I'll come over here.
-Just can't -- You just can't do that.
-Okay. -Sorry, Mr. Trump. -Hey, you leave him alone. He was probably coughing
from all the dust kicked up by that hurricane. At least we knew it wasn't
Wilbur Ross who was coughing, because he was probably
sound asleep. He'd, uh -- He'd been up all
night stealing Sweet'N Low. [ Laughter ] And by the way,
now that there are multiple official investigations
of this whole insane ordeal, let's not forget that on top
of everything else, by doctoring the map, Trump may
have also broken federal law. -This is in
"The Washington Post," and they say flatly,
"It was Trump who used a black Sharpie to mark up
an official NOAA map which he displayed
during an oval office briefing on Wednesday." -And there's one more problem. As a Fox News
meteorologist noted, it's a violation of federal law to falsify a National
Weather Service forecast. -Wouldn't it be great if this was the thing
that finally brought him down? I mean, seriously. [ Laughter, cheers,
and applause ] This about it. Think about everything else
that came before this. He obstructed justice,
paid off a porn star, takes money from taxpayers
and foreign governments at his personal properties, and they finally nail him
for map vandalism. [ Cheers and applause ] It would be like --
It would be like if they got Charles Manson for tearing
the tag off his mattress. I mean, seriously, when it comes
to breaking the law, how much worse could things get
for Donald Trump? -Breaking news now. Sources telling CNN
that in recent weeks, prosecutors with the New York
District Attorney's Office have interviewed Michael Cohen, President Trump's former fixer
and personal attorney. The investigation is looking
into whether the Trump organization
broke any state laws by falsifying business records. -The former lawyer is now
an inmate serving three years in prison for,
among other crimes, his role in procuring
those payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, which constituted
a campaign finance violation. Let's not forget this --
a case in which the president was an unindicted
co-conspirator. -They're investigating
whether the Trump organization violated any state laws relating to those hush money
payments to women. -That's right. Investigators
are looking at the Trump organization's
handling of hush payments to cover up affairs. Trump is so versatile, he's managed to break laws
relating to Stormy Daniels and stormy weather. [ Laughter and applause ] Sharpiegate is a perfect, stupid microcosm
of the Trump era. He lies and concocts
insane conspiracy theories and then strong-arms
the rest of the government into enforcing those lies. Like on climate change,
he's repeatedly called it a hoax and now his government
is scrapping regulations on everything from
methane emissions to energy-efficient light bulbs, to clean water protections, resulting in at least
85 environmental rollbacks under Trump. Sharpiegate is just the latest, dumbest example
of Trump's war on reality. Congress needs to get him out
of there immediately, like they did with this guy. -There are farts everywhere
and toots. I don't even know. It's crazy. [ Laughter ]
-This has been "A Closer Look." [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
