When Al Gore's Campaign Received Illegal Election Material, He Turned It in to the FBI

"Did you think about the option of keeping it, winning the election and then blaming the whole thing on the Secret Service?" asked Stephen Colbert.

"It's great to be part of Russia week," joked Al Gore as he sat down for his interview with Stephen Colbert.

Gore is promoting his An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power climate-change doc, but first told Colbert about how in 2000 he was preparing for a presidential debate with George W. Bush when he received campaign materials he wasn't supposed to have.

Somebody had stolen Bush's debate prep book and mailed it to Gore's friend who was planning on being the Bush stand-in for the former vice president's own debate prep.

"We immediately turned it over to the FBI and Tom recused himself from the whole debate process," said Gore, joking that it wasn't sent from Moscow, it was sent from Texas.

"Did you think about the option of keeping it, winning the election and then blaming the whole thing on the Secret Service?" said Colbert, referencing the Donald Trump Jr. scandal.

Colbert also asked Gore about his conversation with Hillary Clinton after she, like Gore, won the popular vote but lost the election. Gore said Clinton doesn't need his advice but he thinks it's all about moving on and finding another way to serve. "She’s going to be fine," said Gore. "The country’s another matter.”

Gore previously told The Hollywood Reporter of talking with Clinton: "She's experienced enough to not need advice from me, but I offered whatever words I thought might be both consoling and helpful. It was a good conversation."

When speaking about the environment and the Paris climate change agreement, Gore reiterated that he had hoped Trump would come to his senses about climate change, but he was wrong. There's still hope for the world, said Gore, and he urged people to watch his film to find out how to help, laughingly adding that it's a "hot date" movie.