Brett Cooper — TMZ Is FINALLY Using Their Powers for Good

Guys, we might be witnessing TMZ's redemption arc. This is when they become the anti-hero of our generation because after years of hounding and honestly like harassing Hollywood celebrities, hounding them in the streets, doing awful things to my sweet Justin Bieber, they have turned their cameras to the East Coast, more specifically to Washington D.C., the swamp. And this Monday, they officially opened their new D.C.

bureau and they have decided to finally use their powers for good. But I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that this could be the wake-up call that our elected officials need. In fact, according to a post from Polymarket, just in, multiple congress people projected to resign this week as TMZ opens D.C. office to expose scandals. All right, so we have Swalwell, WE HAVE GONZALEZ. ANYBODY ELSE? Any takers? Let's just expose it all.

Now, I think that this is all important. Number one, this is like a personal thing for me. This is the crossover I personally need in my life. It is pop culture, it's TMZ, and D.C. politics. But more specifically, more significantly, say, is because in 2016, even in 2024, like we all saw MAGA and Donald Trump as this disruptor who was promising to get in there and destroy the system, expose everything, tear it all down, and rebuild it for Americans.

And I think a lot of people, just based on what I'm reading in the comments, on social media, how I am personally feeling, I think a lot of people are realizing that maybe we've reached the end of the road there. Like there has to be something after MAGA, after Donald Trump. So, we're thinking, well, what's next? Is there any hope? Is anybody going to be able to disrupt and change the system? And so now, you know, it's got me thinking, maybe TMZ is actually the outsider disruptor that we really need.

Now, before we dive into the story, which I'm so excited about, I want to thank you guys for being here. Thank you for subscribing. I saw a couple of comments of people being like, we need to get Brett to 2 million, which would be so much fun. So, maybe that can be our goal is we can get to 2 million subscribers by the end of the year. Let's try that. But thank you so much for being here. Thank you for liking and commenting and always supporting the show.

I have so much fun doing this for you guys, so thanks for being here. All right, let's just dive in. So all of this hubbub with TMZ and their new political involvement, it started during the government shutdown, which is still going on, by the way. I think we are on week eight of the shutdown, and TMZ took it upon themselves at the start of the shutdown to check in with our elected officials, the people whose bills we are paying, to see what they were up to while essential workers were going without pay, while American airports were going up in chaotic flames, as you can see here.

And so TMZ put out a memo of sorts. They sent out a call to the masses and they said everybody, we want you to be on the lookout for all of our representatives who are taking an unwarranted vacation during the shutdown, who are not in their DC offices, they're not reaching across the aisle trying to get compromises, you know, trying to get a vote called, who are just going along with this and using this shutdown as an excuse to take a vacation.

And they said specifically that they wanted photographic evidence. And the results were better, or I should say worse, than any of us could have imagined. For example, we had Robert Garcia hitting the slots in Vegas. He immediately responded and said, "Oh no, I'm I'm spending quality time with my father at the casino in Vegas." Okay, yeah, he really resented the exposé, he said. We also had Ted Cruz. Hi, Ted, how you doing?

He went to the beach per usual. Here he was catching a flight to Fort Lauderdale. John James went to Turks and Caicos. Government employees were not getting paid and he took his family to Turks and Caicos. But you know, if the Caribbean it might not be everybody's cup of tea. And so for our representatives who prefer misty mornings and dark academia, that aesthetic, well, 30 of them took a vacation to Scotland. And guess what, guys?

We paid for it. Just watch. That person told us that it wasn't just us, it was 30 people from Congress. We were on a congressional delegation um and Scotland. And uh the picture you we got was them touring a castle. Well, guess who's paying for that? You. You're paying for that trip with 30 members of Congress who didn't do their jobs and left Washington, D.C. without fully funding the Department of Homeland Security.

And Coast Guard members, uh members of FEMA, uh people who work at TSA still haven't gotten their full back paychecks. >> BOW, YEAH. NOBODY'S getting paid, but thank god they get to go tour a castle in Scotland. But guys, that's not all because Rick Scott, well, he went with his family to Disney World. And TMZ honestly didn't have to hunt for those photos BECAUSE HE POSTED THEM HIMSELF. HIS STAFFERS DROPPED THE BALL ON THAT ONE.

They should have been like, Rick Scott, TMZ is coming after you. He was probably like, what is TMZ? I'm a boomer. He posted the photo himself. Now, this is incredibly ironic, I might add, considering that this was him as a conservative Republican on Fox not long ago talking about Disney. >> I haven't seen any numbers yet. I mean, I I got rid of my Disney Plus. Uh I'm I'm not planning on going back to the park. But these companies, it doesn't make any sense.

>> He's not planning on going back to the park. Okay. Okay, Rick, sure. Hard lesson you're learning, Rick, but the internet remembers. They always do. Now, I will say Disney was obviously a very popular destination because I'm sure you guys remember the now infamous photos of Lindsey Graham frolicking around Disney World with a bubble wand in hand. >> Daddy, watch me twerk. Daddy. Now, understandably, all of this immediately blew up.

I'm sitting here scrolling through my ex. I'm giggling. I'm kicking my feet. It's like the greatest content I have ever seen. That one post of Lindsey with the bubble wand, it racked up almost 6 million impressions on TMZ's page. And so suddenly, all of these members of Congress, they were scrambling. They had to figure out how to respond and deflect and shift the blame to throw people off their trail. And so for example, and this was really funny to me, Lindsey and John James, again, he was the one who was in Turks and Caicos, They both came up with the revolutionary idea to post pictures of themselves while they were on vacation with guns.

Shooting guns. They were like, "Oh yeah, OUR PEOPLE LOVE THAT. 2A. This is going to, you know, distract from everything." Lindsay even went so far as to say that he spent time breaking clays today. I didn't know that was like a perk at Disney World. You were able to do that, sir. I didn't know that your bubble wand doubled as a shotgun. This is news to me. I'd love to get one of those. Anyway, but sorry, boys, that is not how the internet works.

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Like, both sides of the political aisle are getting held accountable for what they're doing. They just want to be celebrities. They want to have a podcast. So, let's give them the celebrity treatment. Let's give them the paparazzi experience. And Harvey Levin, who runs TMZ, and by the way, this man sort of has a storied past. A lot of people are talking about him in regards to Epstein and being in the file. So, there are some people who are not happy about this that we can get into that in another episode.

As he was opening this new bureau and talking about it, he was very clear as to why he instructed his team to do all of this. And honestly, I think that this is something we can all get behind. The point of this is to show how fed up the American people are, because we are. And this it's so insulting that they are, you know, the Republicans blame the Democrats. Lindsey Graham was quick to say, "It's the Democrats' fault."

No, it's both your faults because two sides have to come together to compromise. They are unable to do it. And yeah, one can blame the other, but the bottom line is you got to figure out how to do it in order to run government. And they haven't done it. And not only have they not done it, they just threw up their hands and said, "We're leaving. I mean, we have a vacation scheduled." >> They got to get on a cruise. There's a bubble wand waiting.

So, Lindsey Graham hopped on that flight. Ted Cruz was like, "Fort Lauderdale is calling and the palm trees are calling me." They do not care and the American people are tired. That is the point. Like, he took the words right out of my mouth. And like, what alternate universe are we living in that this is coming from TMZ of all outlets? That they are the one in 2026 that is making sense when it comes to politics. Anyway, so now you guys have all of the context about what has happened.

All of this went viral over the last month or so when people were saying, "More, more, more. Like, please continue." And so, TMZ decided to officially open up a branch in DC. And yesterday, Monday, I'm recording this on Tuesday, was their first day on the job. And I just love that one of the first things that they did was waltz on over to fairy boy and ask him how he was doing. Excuse me, Senator Graham. How are you, man?

I'm I'm from TMZ. Could I just ask you about the bubble wand, sir? Can I just ask you quickly about the bubble wand? We just want to hear about the bubble wand, Lindsey. I also kind of love it in this moment because Lindsey Graham, his energy matches TMZ. He's like, "Talk to the hand." He's like a sassy queen because obviously we all know he needs to come out of the closet, but this is a man who should be harassed by TMZ.

And like, deep down inside, you know he's loving it. That's just all I need to say. Now, you might be wondering what else did TMZ discover on their first day on the job? Well, they learned that no one was eager to get back to work. Imagine that. They wrote, "Our three intrepid producers, Charlie Cotton, Jacob Wasserman, and Jackson Boo-hah, hopefully I said that correctly, are working the Hill." Remember those names.

They arrived over the weekend and their first day on the job was supposed to be today when members of Congress returned from their two-week break. Turns out, members of the House aren't coming back to work until Tuesday. Got to make sure they get the full two weeks off, right? And just listen to their report. >> I actually realized I want to be a senator because it's the cushiest job ever. It's like no one goes to work and they just had this massive two-week vacation and now they're coming in tonight to vote.

Like they didn't work all day today and what I'm hearing is like people usually land, they get in their car, they get taken straight here, they vote, and then they go home and sleep. So, it's like greatest job ever. >> And then I mean, combine that with the get-rich-quick scenario, the insider trading, like who wouldn't want it? Seems like a great gig. I actually have to say, it really is remarkable watching these reporters take everything in, especially because one of them is Australian.

So, when I was listening to that clip of him talking to Lindsey Graham, I felt like I was watching Steve Irwin discover a new species of animal out in the wild, tracking its every move, learning its pattern, seeing the hierarchy and dominance over other creatures. It's just great. Somebody tweeted and said, "Living for this because the big reason why so much never gets reported by the legacy press is because so many New York Times, WaPo journos, etc.

have an incestuous and obsequious relationship to power. TMZ doesn't know these DC nerds or give an F except for clips, which could make this all very funny." Exactly. And I, my friends, I am just so excited. I am Twitter-pated over this entire thing. So, in terms of the response from members of Congress and the press, you know, much like they were scrambling to cover their Disney vacations, apparently staffers on the Hill are also frantically trying to prepare their bosses for their inevitable TMZ moment.

As you can see, it was covered here in Politico. Because unfortunately for them and very fortunately for you and me, TMZ does not operate like the press Capitol Hill is used to. And speaking of that mainstream legacy press, it seems like they, too, are not very happy about this new disruptor coming on to their turf. For example, an esteemed serious serious legacy reporter of Politico put out a tweet yesterday detailing what went wrong the last time that TMZ tried to do DC coverage many years ago, which apparently resulted in a reporter defrauding the government pretending to be some kind of CIA operative.

It's a crazy story. And to that I say like okay, let's just add it to the list of other fraud we're dealing with at this point. Like everybody is defrauding taxpayers. And like you legacy outlets, you're posting this from your position of moral superiority. Oh, TMZ is walking on our Whatever. Like you are not free of transgressions either. So just like pipe down and let them try again. And the people in his comment section agreed.

Somebody said, "You guys could simply do your jobs and these shitty tabloid didn't have to do it for you." Somebody else said, "Yeah, well, American journalism has fallen off a cliff. Y'all are professional ass-kissers as opposed to holding people in power accountable." So there's a high chance that things will go differently this time around. TMZ is still shady, but at least they got the message that we are tired. Yes.

And a lot of people are also commenting about a recent political article that went viral for all the wrong reasons. They were talking about a candidate in government and they started it by talking about how he eats his salad. Oh, it crunches this way. He shakes the box this way. Everybody was like, "Oh, okay, maybe TMZ will talk about how this person eats a sandwich. Oh my god, so great. Like you guys are really doing serious work that is going to be impacted by TMZ."

All I have to say is this thing the entire thing it just simply feels like it was made for me. It is a brainchild that I have manifested over the last four years and I could not be happier. Just listen to Harvey explain it. We kind of show how pop culture and politics converge. Um but also, I just think lifestyle is really interesting that, you know, congressmen make, I don't know, like $160, well, $174,000 uh a year, but they have to maintain two residences.

Um they have to have one in their district and then they have to live somewhere in DC. And some of them like live in their offices and some bunk up with like four or five other members of Congress to save money. So, you guys should be planning like congressional sleepovers at some point to see how they live. >> Yeah, you should be doing that but also you should be telling us what happens at the sleepovers if you get the gist.

If you see what transgressions people are recording, what things they are hiding in the deep dark closets of the hill. And also, just putting this on your radar TMZ for those members of Congress who somehow have very large significant expensive residences in both locations, maybe we could look into how just a crazy idea on that $150,000 salary they are affording both. Could be interesting. Somebody said instead of chasing down overpaid entertainers that do very little to impact our lives directly, I think TMZ has struck gold with this approach.

If anyone deserves to be followed and harassed, it is definitely our voted representatives. They work for us supposedly and we should have tabs on them. Exactly. Like it is time to finally leave Justin Bieber alone, let him heal, let Britney Spears heal in rehab. She's got things she needs to work through and let's focus more on Lindsey Graham. Maybe we hone in, for example, on Eric Swalwell's best friend and fellow representative Ruben Gallego who allegedly, allegedly had no idea about any of Eric's sexual misconduct, the rape allegations, any of the transgressions.

He is certain He is certain that he never partook, that he never even knew. Sure, Ruben. Sure. Yeah, I'd watch your back, honey, cuz there's a TMZ behind you.