there will be many more like spitzer in positions of power posing even bigger threats to our fragile democracy-- crusaders wanting their portraits on the walls of history. every governor of new york has the chance to be immortalized in a painting that hangs in the new york state capitol, a self-directed monument to his or her own illustrious legacy. all of them are there-- all but two. the first served in the early 19th century and left no likenesses behind. the second...is eliot spitzer. ♪ ♪ tapper: being from philadelphia, i have an inherent distrust of anything that comes from new jersey. although i do acknowledge that the garden state punches way above its weight when it comes to political scandals. [indistinct conversations]

in 2004, the democratic governor of new jersey, jim mcgreevey, stepped into a press room just like this and became an overnight sensation when he admitted to a gay affair and resigned in the same speech. a governor coming out of the closet was genuinely shocking, a career-killer at that time. looking back, though, i can't help but feel that we were also quick to embrace the headline that we may have forgotten to dig a little deeper, because the reason why jim mcgreevey resigned is a lot more complicated than we remember. ♪ ah, new jersey-- america's communal jacuzzi, or cesspool, depending on who you ask. [glass shatters] a land with its own unique culture and customs and a political landscape than can be rather...

shall we say, in your face. you're done. it's 4:30. you've maximized your tan. get off the beach. new jersey is a rough-and-tumble place, man, you know? it's not for the faint of heart. the politics, the money, the press, the media, the scrutiny, are all larger. i teach new jersey politics, and when i say that to people, they laugh at you, and they say, "oh! that's gonna be a fun course about corruption." yes, new jersey has a reputation for corruption being baked into the political process, with some political operatives of the belief that if you don't get your hands dirty, you probably don't want it enough. so when a fresh-faced, squeaky-clean kid from jersey city named jim mcgreevey won the governor's office, it seemed too good to be true. so help me god. [cheers and applause] but this was jersey, so...it was. ♪ no sooner was he sworn in,

and rumors started to circulate about the shady things he had done to get there. -[reporters shouting at once] -man: come on over, governor! we always had a perception that jim mcgreevey was unable to say no to certain powerful political allies. you have to make some deals with the devils to get the party line, get the party nomination, and mcgreevey, from my vantage point, was more than willing to do it. when it came to mcgreevey's rise in jersey, there were whispers that the devil in question was the real estate tycoon charlie kushner. yes, of those kushners. there is speculation that kushner and mcgreevey had a quid pro quo relationship, that kushner was going to become his biggest developer, and he wanted certain things in return. charlie kushner and the kushner family started to pour huge amounts of money into his campaign. these are the kinds of ways that oligarchs like charlie kushner

develop their power. and then there were rumors that mcgreevey had hired unqualified friends for key administration roles. reporter: there were allegations of corruption, extortion, and nepotism in his administration. tapper: rumors of favor trading, backroom deals, and a campaign finance fraud investigation from u.s. attorney chris christie were all swirling around mcgreevey, when one hot august day in 2004, he called a press conference, but instead of talking about any of that, he dropped this bombshell. so my truth is that... he was gay and having an affair with a man, and he was resigning. with headlines like these, who cares about government corruption? tonight a stunning admission from new jersey governor james mcgreevey. the twice-married father of two admitted today he had an extramarital affair with another man. it was shocking. everybody about it was shocking. i remember one of the senior reporters at the paper,

she lets out just this instinctive response of a gasp, like... [gasps loudly] mcgreevey's coming out might not seem gasp-worthy today, but keep in mind, 2004 was a very different time, and the most prominent gay people that many americans knew were fictional characters on a tv show portrayed by actors who themselves were not openly gay. so pop culture and the media latched on to the gay jokes with the maturity of a 13-year-old hopped up on pixy sticks. i mean, so the guy's a fanook. [laughter] big deal, he had an affair. every married guy's got some action on the side. in this case, in the behind. [laughter] it was inexcusable, inexcusably hot. oh. "chapter titles in jim mcgreevey's book." "politicians who left a bad taste in my mouth." all right, now that's just... [laughter] but here's the thing. there was such a fervor around mcgreevey's coming out

that the story of all the political corruption surrounding him got lost. mcgreevey said he felt forced to resign because he was gay. that, i think, is wrong, and i think that the people who pushed that storyline either don't know the story or don't wanna know the story. people were digging into it, and all that digging stopped when he resigned, not for that, but for being gay. while jim denies it to this day, is it possible that he didn't resign to escape the public circus around his sexuality but to escape an avalanche of other corruption allegations headed his way? with the benefit of a little hindsight, jim mcgreevey has emerged as someone both aware of and open about how he justified a series of disastrous political choices and how his overpowering ambition led him down a path of public and personal deception that seemed almost destined to implode. governor, thanks so much for doing this. oh, it's a pleasure. so...your story is so interesting

because you were living a lie, this secret life, how did you justify this to yourself? was this just, "well, this is what gay men have to do, and i just have to pretend to be something else, and lots of other gay men are in politics pretending"? like, what--how-- uh, you know, i didn't wake up and say, you know, "i'm gonna be deceptive for the sake of deceiving. i'm gonna create this whole double ledger." no. i didn't make that decision prior to the gubernatorial campaign. i made it, like, at 7 or 8 years old. i can remember this as if it were yesterday. i go to my local public library, and i'm pulling out the card catalog looking for the word "homosexuality," and it said underneath, "see psychiatric illness." -really? -and it was just like... [makes whooshing sound] ...this thing, at least then in america, called "gay," wasn't a good thing. i realized at that point in time that life is gonna be a very painful trajectory

if i own this, and you just try to make an accommodation, albeit an unhealthy accommodation. but the irony is, in politics, it was actually a useful tool. really? because so much of the american political persona is to craft a narrative. jim married his first wife, kari schutz, in 1991, and began to craft the false narrative that he knew would help him look the part for the role he really wanted to play. you're perceived as straight, male, on top of the food chain. -right. and so that actually reconfirms in an unhealthy way the--the--the rightness of--of the decision. ♪ [cheers and applause] jim mcgreevey was a very young, aggressive politician and wanted to be governor for a long time. he had gone to georgetown law school. he was a bright guy, and he also was a very ambitious guy. he was kind of a back-slapping kind of guy. he wanted to be liked. he wanted you to like him.

thank you. you made my day. thank you. i think jim clearly wanted to be governor and would do anything to get that job. part of it was because i believe in the promise of america. i believe there's this great experiment known as american democracy, and i think i can work well with people. so much of it is also fueled by, you know, ego and--and self. but i knew that these were, at that time, two mutually exclusive narratives. -ambition and being gay? -yep. that--that could not coexist. chekhov has this theory about a gun--chekhov's gun. -mm. -if you introduce a gun in the first act of the play, it's gonna go off by the third. yeah. yep. was that gun... your homosexuality, your--your being gay, or was it your ambition? it was both. it was the intersection of these two inextricable forces. at some point in time, the tragedy comes to a head.

can i get some more coffee? is that possible? crew: yeah, absolutely. the governor will have some coffee, too. mcgreevey: yeah, yeah. sitting across from jim mcgreevey now, he seems like an affable, easygoing guy, and that's exactly the political persona he cultivated to succeed in the cutthroat arena of jersey politics. by the time he ran for governor, he had been closeted for most of his life. everyone has some level of accommodation,

and for me, "you want to run for governor?" so you make this decision to be like what it is that america says is the right thing to do so you can flourish. are you ready to rumble?! crowd: yeah! the power in new jersey is who becomes governor. reporter: ...the race for governor between incumbent republican christine whitman and the little-known democratic state senator, jim mcgreevey. tapper: because he was so little known and not independently wealthy, mcgreevey had to rely on his work ethic to get his name out. he didn't stop. called him the energizer bunny. he just kept going and going. reporter: the governor's race is tighter than ever. tapper: but work ethic could only take him so far. he lost his first race for governor by narrow margin. i would like to congratulate our governor, christine todd whitman for her re-election victory. [crowd booing] you lost to governor christine todd whitman very narrowly--27,000 votes. -yes. -not--not that i remember, no. -27,000 votes.

i-i-i actually remember where i was. tell us about that. i was walking along the fraser river, and, um, i thought to myself, "well, you know, what do i do?" and there was a moment like, i can break out of this, but i have been too deeply shaped by my own history to, at that point, change the narrative. so jim dug deeper into his lie. after his first marriage ended, rather than arouse suspicion as a bachelor, he pursued his family man image by marrying dina matos, an unsuspecting, picture-perfect political wife. before long, she was pregnant, and he was running for governor again. i declare my candidacy for governor of the great state of new jersey. jim was clearly the democratic front-runner, and front-runner gets you the county line. it gets you, uh, scares off your opponents.

money. [laughs] front-runner gets money. enter real estate tycoon and democratic mega-donor charles kushner. bernstein: charlie kushner is the father of former white house advisor jared kushner and a major new jersey real estate developer. it became clear to charlie that people with the power to make things happen were democrats and that he himself could be a kingmaker. mcgreevey: charlie was like a get-it-done guy. tapper: so that--that was an authentic connection that you had with him, you think? yeah, oh, definitely, without a doubt. and he helped support you? he raised money? yes. it's expensive to run state-wide in new jersey. -it's like a $40 million race. -oh, it's--yeah. -back then. -yes. mcgreevey needed someone like kushner to bankroll him, so kushner donated huge sums of money to jim's campaign. -thank you. -[cheers and applause] at the same time, there are benefits to having a governor in your back pocket.

for someone like kushner, having a close relationship, who can grease all sorts of wheels such as contracts, zoning approvals, and tax abatements. bernstein: that is your ticket to power. so charlie kushner gave over half a million dollars to mcgreevey's campaign efforts. there is a word that can help you out with many ethical issues when it comes to money. that word is "no." kushner didn't just open his pocketbook for jim mcgreevey. charlie would fund educational trips to israel, like the trip where mcgreevey met the man for whom he risked everything. -you went to israel on a trip. -yep. and then rishon letzion-- you met golan cipel. yes. i'm traveling throughout israel, and this young person is sitting across from me, and he begins to dissect my campaign. he knows your race. he knows the race as well as i do with arguably better insights. and he's good-looking and he's articulate. was it an instant attraction?

yeah. tapper: and then he joined you when you-- mcgreevey: well, he-- he corresponded during the course of the campaign. this is not an intellectual decision. this is not a head decision. this is a heart decision. -but he-- -meanwhile, you married dina... -yeah. -...in 2000. you're running for governor in 2001. yep. all this time, golan is making outreach to you. well, yeah, and i think he also saw this as an opportunity, an opportunity to get involved in politics. so how cognizant were you that bringing golan cipel from israel to new jersey to be on your staff was...setting yourself up for what happened? that's a great question. i-i-i sincerely don't know the answer to that. -you don't know. -i don't know the answer. ♪ golan cipel was eager to come to new jersey to join mcgreevey's campaign, but he needed papers to work legally, which would cost jim another favor from charles kushner,

who had the businesses to sponsor the work visa. now with all their fates tied together, mcgreevey, cipel, and kushner set out to win the new jersey governor's race at any cost. jim mcgreevey, the democratic candidate, has been able to spend $1.7 million so far. jim mcgreevey has spent about $20 million. i got a figure. mcgreevey would say, "how many fund-raisers do we need to do? i'll be there." we have had eight years of failed leadership. margolin: "i'll speak. you'll pay. i'll collect." it was a well-oiled machine, and everybody was working under the impression that this was the gravy train that was coming into station. reporter: jim mcgreevey will be the new governor of new jersey. [cheering] [amplified voice] i'm not anything special, but fundamentally, as i said in this campaign, i'm a jersey guy. [cheering] tapper: in november 2001, jim mcgreevey was elected governor, and suddenly the whole world was watching his every move,

because just two months earlier, the largest terrorist attack in u.s. history had occurred right nearby. reporter: new york city is in shock, and america is under siege. tapper: with terrified new jersey residents watching the horror of 9/11 from across the hudson, people were asking, "how will jim mcgreevey keep us safe?"

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mcgreevey became governor just months after 9/11, the most significant terrorist attack on the united states in modern memory. hundreds of new jerseyans and thousands of americans died in a single day, and now jim mcgreevey's constituents were demanding that public officials keep them safe. the city is now working on a detailed proposal to outline what they think could work. mcgreevey lacked experience on the subject, so he needed to hire someone as a national security advisor. he also had a seat to fill on the new york/new jersey port authority board, which would decide what to do with ground zero. so whom did he pick for these roles? his lover, golan cipel, and his friend and benefactor, charles kushner. let's take those two bad decisions one at a time. when was it that you actually became intimate with golan? um...

oof. i don't keep a diary. ♪ i'm surprised that jim mcgreevey didn't remember the date, because according to his autobiography, it was one night when his wife was in the hospital recovering from the birth of their daughter. so the timing of this is interesting. you win election in november 2001. you and golan had your first actual moment as lovers in december 2001. and then a few weeks after you're sworn in, talking to reporters, you mentioned him... -yep. -...publicly. yep. in february 2002, at a meeting with the press defending new hires in homeland security, mcgreevey said, "we will not skimp on security," and he added that golan cipel was, "a security advisor from the israeli defense forces, probably the best in the world. not probably. they do the best in the world." you still think he was qualified for that job?

he was--he wasn't home-- by the way... [stammers] he wasn't homeland security advisor. no, the homeland security advisor-- -he was a counselor to you... -counselor, yeah. ...and it was one of the things in his... yeah, that was in his portfolio. homeland security advisor, had 20 years in the fbi. -but i mean, so--but he-- -you think there's something about being an israeli that does give somebody-- yeah, but should he been in-- should he at all been in that portfolio of answers? no. -clearly and unequivocally. -but you brought him up. you brought him up in that meeting. you didn't bring up the fbi guy. -yep, yep. -you brought up golan. yep. i wasn't--i wasn't with the fbi guy. did you want to be outed? did you want to be discovered? yeah. you--you--it's probably a mix or components or factors as that decision making, not to practice psychiatry without a license, but at some level, i was doing something there. you know, these are great psych-- i-i--you know, i've gotta get a therapist after having an interview with jake tapper. i don't know. i mean, like part of it was being in the closet or, you know, as they say in aa, we're only as sick as our secrets.

it was clearly not an astute political act. -i mean, it was... -well, the next day, what happened? all these reporters were calling. reporters were like, "who is this guy? why is there an israeli on the new jersey payroll?" which were all legitimate questions. reporter: cipel was a man mcgreevey brought to be his 6-figure security advisor under a cloud of controversy. golan did not have anything on his résumé that would suggest a qualification for this job, and then given the fact that he was an israeli national here on a work visa, he was not going to qualify for security clearance. remember, it's four months since 9/11. this is homeland security after the biggest terrorist attack on u.s. soil in history. the people were like, "what the hell?" yeah, it's crazy. but we all didn't know it was. jim mcgreevey hired his boyfriend to a position his boyfriend was not qualified for. there was a lot of coverage while you were governor

of what was called in new jersey the "pay to play." -yep. -give money to somebody... -and-- -...of running for office and then you can get on a lucrative board of some sort. board, yep. so charles kushner, you put him on the port authority board. -board. -this is golden... -the crème de la crème. -yeah. it's the economic engine, you would argue, for the region. people don't necessarily understand this, but the port authority is new jersey and new york, and it controls all sorts of decisions having to do with travel... -bridges. -bridges, yeah, exactly. -airports, roads, network. -ships coming in, everything. -ships, supports, development. and who gets those contracts is incredibly lucrative. yep. i do have experience with development, approvals, um, business. this is the job that charlie kushner wants-- to be the head of the port authority when the whole world is focused on this piece of property. tapper: jim mcgreevey has consistently denied that kushner lobbied him for the port authority position, but in 2002, journalist ron marsico reported a different story.

jim lied. jim didn't lie well. it was looked at as a quid pro quo for, uh, kushner's political contributions, and i wrote a story about how charlie kushner had lobbied hard for this job. a few days later i got a call from one of mcgreevey's operatives. he said, "ron, i wanna set the record straight. charlie kushner did not lobby for that job. charlie kushner demanded that job, ron." determining what's in a legal quid pro quo versus just shady politics can honestly be difficult. but what's clear is that kushner bankrolled mcgreevey's campaign. people were right to be concerned about any potential conflict of interest. and when the new jersey state senate summoned charles kushner to explain himself, he backed out instead. >> collective interest >> and when the new jersey state senate summoned charles kirschner to explain himself, he backed out instead. almost nobody noticed except for this guy >> us attorney, chris christie.

>> after looking more closely, a why question or might have turned down the plot and and not have to testify. chris christie discovered that not only did kushner funnel as suspicious amount of money to my grevy's campaign. the way he had donated to certain campaigns was illegal >> if you are corrupting our political system this office will bring you to justice >> charlie cushioning are violated fundamental principles of political giving. >> he >> would give money in the names of other people if you are jim a gravy and you want money, this is a very beneficial practice because it wasn't just the money that he could give, but the money that he could mobilize on someone's behalf that made him particularly attractive to people running for office. >> he also secretly used partnership funds for political contributions. and when his siblings, including brother marie kushner found out that their money was being used to fund politicians without their consent. >> they >> started cooperating with chris christie >> if you choose to violate the law you will be caught. you

will be prosecuted. >> charlie kushner gets wind of what's happening he thinks what is going on is my sister and my brother are conspiring against you. and i you to shut them up and he decides to find a sex worker true proposition charlie christian, his brother-in-law, and get it on videotape and decides that he's going to send the video tape to his sister that's right >> charles kushner tried to get his siblings to back out of testifying against him by blackmailing his brother-in-law, his sister's husband with a sex tape featuring a sex worker that charlie kush nar had hired only in new jersey and they now have a new charge witness intimidation every incredulous news report about the scandal included >> that in addition to being that kind of guy, charles kushner was also governor mud

grevy's biggest donor it was the kind of attention my grieving really wanted to avoid, especially considering the skeletons in his closet and the one on his payroll to be a headline was vegas. vegas that's what i want to do. >> they had the biggest entertainers in america >> vegas is always marketed itself on its not enough. >> and the only way you find out what you can do is if you do it unlike anywhere else in the world vegas, the story of sin city next sunday attend on cnn

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your case now, call 1808149977 i've are still alvarez at the white house and this is cnn mcgratty was in full retreat. of course, there's criminal campaign donations, cat muck rabies name in the papers, and the governor realized he needed

to clean up his act. so we ended his sexual relationship with golan the bell, and terminated his contract. but it was too little too late. >> in that world of new jersey politics. there were some chatter about that there was a relationship between chappelle and mcgratty, that this point we know jim agree ve gave go on some paella job and enabled him to get a visa. >> he was certainly on the radar of the house reporters and he will covering it >> nothing about the rumors of alcohol alon are provable and principle, obviously, their relationship was strange and newsworthy immigrate his autobiography. he writes, quote after press questions about his qualifications reached critical mass, golan had taken to calling me day and night to ask for his job back. the longer i stood listening to my former lover, the closer my world came to imploding you told him you would walk away from all of it to be with him.

>> what did he say? no. >> no because he wanted to be with the governor right? yeah. that's what i believe he didn't want to be with jim, agree. yeah. yeah >> mcgratty kept helping supple with employment and other favors, perhaps trying to keep him quiet. but in the spring of 2004, go lawns appel threatened the governor that he would go public with claims he had been sexually assaulted by my grieving coming into the summer of 2004, there winds up being an unbelievable tidal >> wave of scandal that's crashing down on the ma gravy administration. and in fact, it's hard to find the right metaphor. was it a circus >> agree these top fundraiser under destination for, among other things, violating campaign contribution laws was at a carnival, a gravy was being undone by nasty rumors of soap opera proportions. >> was it a >> merry-go-round forecasters

predicted that things would get worse for the governor. >> it was every single day thing to say going in, you feel optimistic. >> thank you. >> he's running from reporters. he wouldn't come out for public events. >> you got to leave early when you don't at this point the public perception of jim agreed he had transformed from picture perfect young governor to just another messi corrupt new jersey politico as the engines built, remember that loaded check offs gun of political ambition in closeted identity i mentioned earlier, well, that gun was about to go off in that moment. ma gravy arrived at a fork in iraq and he had to, in a sense pick his campbell's, what was going to bring him down? charles kirshner and corruption or the boyfriend he accused you of sexual assaults? yeah. >> they wanted $50 million, but they would settle for five. yeah. exactly. i remember my attorney. he says i've got good news and bad news i could use some good news already came by

down 95% bad news. he still wants five thank you. >> did you think that you are going to be able to weather the storm? >> no. continue with your career? >> no, i didn't it >> was a hot august day and i was sitting in the newsroom at wwe nyc where i was working. and i get a call or when the afternoon testing testing 12 editors are running into rooms i mean, there's flanks of cameras. >> parents were there. dina was their hardest and most honest speak, tried every give it on my lives. obviously i would have preferred to do it in a more low key subtle way >> everybody was gathered around the televisions in the newsroom good afternoon. hundreds of people. >> it was so quiet here, pindrop and moghrabi says, the

now famous line, my truth is that i am a gay american so he got there on that stage with his wife standing next to him, giving him what is the most amazing like >> four minutes aside, i that anyone's ever seen shameful i engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man. >> there was no way that that marriage was going to survive. >> so i am decided the right course of action is to resign to facilitate a responsible transition. >> you know, my parents were there, dina was there and i really appreciated that at the end, it was man, judah right to be mad, furious, but she was mad because she felt humiliated. >> yeah. >> and she had a right to i was wrong. it's important not only recognize the damage for myself, but the damage to people that i love, the grieving father of two said he had grappled with his identity for years let's forced into what he called an acceptable reality, the national conversation can't we let the

guy be gay? he's married shore, but he was forced in the closet by an american puritanism. his country was still >> making it very hard for gay people to live out their lives. honestly, still, there is a sense of something unsafe in this discussion and my grevy's words hint at something more. >> it just seemed hard to believe and it seems hard to believe that schumer groovy was going to resign in an office that he spent his whole life trying to get by falling on his sword for the gay thing, there was no longer a real reason to pursue investigations. he was on his way out anyway. so what's the point of taking into his association with charles kushner? that all kinda went away. >> thank you. >> what would the american public with its puritanical streak and it's obsessive interest in people's sex lives rather, think about this degree we made the right choice as to which scandal was going to bring him down at that moment

>> hi, cia secrets, flowery plane, salary plane froward playing. >> i was undercover. >> so in your spot. >> yeah. >> did someone at the white house blow the cover of a cia operative after her husband criticized the run-up to the war, where are the weapons? that's distraction. exactly. >> this is the rear scandal that really mattered. >> lives were at stake. >> yes. my children. this is >> horrifying united states of scandal with jake tapper. new episode next sunday night. >> okay, everyone, our mission is to provide complete balanced nutrition, are strengthened energy insurance with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein >> dynamic air suspension.

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mainstream news organizations covering gay issues as anything other than a political liability that was the year that that happened to you and it was also the year that it became a national issue? >> yeah. >> gay marriage was the wedge issue. that president bush was using to win reelection. >> yeah, marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization. and it should not be redefined by activist judges, 2004, >> everybody was anti gay marriage we grieve. he was anti gay marriage. barack obama was anti gay marriage, a man and a woman. when they get married >> are performing something. and before god 2004, when agrees is moving up, it would have been impossible to support gay marriage. >> and so >> i don't hold that against him necessarily. i am not apologize in but his desire to be seen as sympathetic tragic case that this had all had been done to him as opposed to the choices he had made and things he had done to others maybe i'm just too catholic for that

shut my truth is that i am a gay american and i am blown ready. >> said my truth is i'm a gay american and immediately framed everything that were coming after the resignation in that line, it set the tone it was a spectacularly well conceived pr strategy. >> apparently my groovy thanks. he left office as punishment for his homosexuality. this is nonsense, if anything his admission of sexual preference. 1, more support. >> hold taken after the announcement gives the governor has high his job approval ratings in two years >> you said it was liberal, a dual life all these years. now you can be free >> you end up telling the truth about who you are to one of the fixers? >> yep. >> and his responses, that's perfect. that'll really sell and i thought now grieving in that moment, wrapping himself in the rainbow flag he had no

right to he'd known he was gay forever. why was he telling us now? because he had to try to make it seem like he was being forced out because he was gay when that wasn't the case at all. he was being forced out because he had put a lover on a state payroll in a position of security just months after nine 11, he had been so reckless. so unbelievably stupid. jim was forced to resign because he realized his position was untenable. >> i'm honestly torn on this on a personal level. i know american politics than in too many places in the us now makes it tough for lgbtq americans to be who they are but as a journalist, i also know so much of what politicians do is calculated and contrived and spin. the speech, agreed he gave on national television was spin. just like his entire

marriage had been spin. and he made his wife play an unwitting role in both moise her first reaction confusion i didn't even know up to half-hour before my husband 1 on television. what he was going to say. so i was really in a state of shock >> even though golan spell never actually took my gravy court, the damage had been done and make gravy was out of office. one could only imagine in that he'd finished the week thinking the worst was over, but charlie kushner said, and i'm paraphrasing here. hold my beer. >> the spectacle of a political career derailed by a secret double life wasn't all that new jersey is resigning. governor had to confront there were some awkward stories for him and for new jersey this morning, sham agree if he resigns as governor and five days later, charlie christian or >> pleads guilty to campaign finance violation, tax fraud,

and trying to entrap his brother-in-law to have sex with a sex worker to intimidate his sister is a remarkable consequences moments. >> jersey governor really just can't seem to shake the scandal. his biggest campaign contributor ties in federal court, billionaire real estate magnate charles kushner, one month after charges were brought against mr. witness tampering, and lying about campaign donations. he's sentenced to two years. that was the end of charlie kushner's influence over the new jersey governor. and with the engine of his political machine behind bars, and the tabloids feasting on his private life, you would think that jim mcgreevey was done for, but this jersey boy wasn't finished just yet. that "downfall" in the eyes of the world profoundly changed my life. there's a transformative experience. you cross that abyss, and you're in a different place.

like the psalmists of old, i have asked god to create in me a clean heart. three months after he announced that he is gay and resigning, mcgreevey spoke of being a changed man. and so today i still have a dream. thank you. [applause] i'll never forget the day after i resigned. before that, as governor, there's 14,000 calls, texts, calls.

and then the phone goes dead. you can hear the birds. in politics, it's boom. the day after, you're irrelevant. but it was--it was the beginning of--of, god willing, crossing the abyss and beginning to rebuild the life that's authentic and honest. so charles kushner-- what happened with him and his family? it was sad. i mean, he's a friend. and he's been--he's been nothing but supportive very quietly. all i can do is reflect on myself. but you're in a very different place in the second half of life. was jim mcgreevey a politician who dove clear-eyed into the muck, who traded favors and influence with unsavory folks to make his way to the top? sure. was his resignation a public relations master class in skirting responsibility, for, among other things, putting a lover on payroll? absolutely.

but i think at the end of the day, more than anything, jim mcgreevey was a guy who flat-out wanted out of the persona he had created for himself, and this meant not only coming out of the closet, but out of the thunderdome of politics and ambition that had consumed him for decades. and by saying, "i am a gay american" at that podium, mcgreevey finally escaped two prisons of his own making. at what would seem to be the lowest moment of your political and personal life, it's like the moment that you become free. yeah. it--it's--as you break through the artifice, and being closeted is just, uh, is a very toxic place. in the void that remained after mcgreevey's resignation, dina filed for divorce,

and jim mcgreevey, without his wife, began to quietly carve out a new life for himself. hi, sweetheart. i've never had that happen on this show. [laughter] [applause] [amplified voice] however long of a journey it took, i'm very proud to be a gay american. thank you. [cheers and applause] a lot changed in the 10 years after mcgreevey resigned. in 2015, the u.s. supreme court legalized same sex marriage in all 50 states, and mcgreevey, who at a decade prior, opposed gay marriage, was now one of its leading advocates. being gay isn't an option. it isn't a matter. -right. -it isn't a discretion. it is who and what i am. do you think if you had been born 20 years later... oh, my life would have been so different. i mean, you know, it just, you know... you just--you would have been out of the closet. i would have been out of the closet. you wouldn't have married kari. you wouldn't have married-- yeah, exactly. i would have been in a healthy relationship. if i could rewind the tape, if i was brutally courageous,

i would have said, "this is who i am. i happen to be a gay american, and i'm not here because golan cipel is suing me on sexual harassment. i'm here because i know who i am." if i could go back in time, that's the speech i would have wanted to have made, but i didn't have the courage or the wherewithal to make that speech at an earlier point in time. so i made it... at the last possible second, when i--when i had to make it. jim mcgreevey probably would have been an even better governor if he was able to be himself. it's a terrible thing to out someone. mcgreevey really set in motion a set of circumstances that wound up outing mcgreevey. he outed himself. but sometimes to be outed against your will is the best thing that ever happened to you in retrospect. the moment before it's terrifying, the moment it happens, it's oddly freeing and liberating. that downfall was actually a path to grace.

yeah. the thing that i was most afraid of, jake, the thing that i was most afraid of, jake, was i, like, i embraced a place of total radical acceptance. ultimately, you have the rest of your life to live authentically, and god willing, virtuously, and to do good things, and every single day, i'm working with addicts. i'm working with people coming out of prison. i'm working with combat veterans. reporter: it's behind these prison walls where former new jersey governor jim mcgreevey has found a new calling-- counseling inmates and working with them to prepare for life outside of jail. i guess i just wonder, like, do you wanna show the world that you have changed? -yeah. you know, i believe in a god of second chances, and you can cross this threshold and get to a healthy place because i'm here with you. i'm arm in arm. i'm not going anywhere. so this story has a happy ending? -this story has a great ending. -yeah. ♪ jim mcgreevey's post-scandal life has been a lesson in walking the walk. he is a model example of a politician turning a political downfall

into an opportunity for reinvention. so it seems like mcgreevey has learned a lesson. but have we? when he resigned, we focused on the gay affair, not the corruption allegations, and that obsession with sex scandals, with the private lives of our politicians over the public good, or over the harm they can cause, that is still alive and kicking, and when the next scandal arrives, the hot take might not be the right one. ♪ ♪ [ bell dings ] ♪ holmes: it was my home away from home.