Late-night hosts on Monday discussed Donald Trump’s lawyers’ attempts to avoid a sit-down with Robert Mueller and the former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman’s new book.



Seth Meyers

NBC’s Seth Meyers zeroed in the president’s legal defense strategy.

He began: “President Trump’s staffing decisions are really coming back to haunt him this week as his lawyers fumble their response to the Russia probe and the White House feuds with Omarosa.”

In an appearance on Fox News, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani called the investigation “illegitimate” and said “it’s going to blow up on them,” referring to Robert Mueller’s team.

“Trump’s legal team is doing everything they can to put off an interview with Mueller and, in the process, they’re basically admitting that Trump cannot be trusted to tell the truth,” explained Meyers, who showed video of Giuliani claiming Mueller only wants an interview so he can set a perjury trap for the president.

“If there was ever a trap tailor-made for Trump,” Meyers noted, “it’s a perjury trap.”

Noting that Trump is willing to answer questions about collusion but not obstruction of justice, Meyers continued: “On Friday, Giuliani and one of Trump’s other lawyers, Jay Sekulow, guest-hosted Sean Hannity’s radio show and discussed the case. That’s right, for some reason, Trump’s legal team hosted a radio show.”

On the program, Sekulow claimed Mueller will compare Trump’s recollection to that of another witness and determine, “we believe this one, we don’t believe that one, thus it’s perjury.”

“First of all, that’s not how it works,” Meyers shot back. “They don’t just interview two people. You’re thinking of lawyers who are bad at their jobs, like you guys.”

Stephen Colbert

“Yet another close adviser to President Trump has betrayed him,” Stephen Colbert began. “The White House is basically a reboot of The Last Supper: Oops, All Judases.

“Omarosa has written a salacious new book filled with shocking details that you already knew,” he explained, referring to Unhinged, the former Apprentice star’s new exposé of her time in the White House. “Her most shocking allegation is that she had heard a tape of The Celebrity Apprentice where Donald Trump used the N-word.”

Colbert then played footage from Omarosa’s appearance on Meet the Press, where she said she had heard the tape and added that it “confirms that he is truly a racist”.

“Finally, we have proof that the guy who refused to rent to black tenants, said that a Nazi Klan rally had some fine people, and called Africa a shithole is a racist,” the host joked. “Tear up your history books!”

In the book, Omarosa also claims she saw Trump chew a piece of paper after a meeting with his former attorney Michael Cohen, writing: “Since Trump was ever the germaphobe, I was shocked he appeared to be chewing and swallowing the paper.”

“Well, the hunt for Trump’s tax returns just got way grosser,” Colbert quipped. “Omarosa is not just relying on her memory here. She secretly recorded her meetings in the White House, including chief of staff John Kelly firing her in the Situation Room.”

In audio of Omarosa’s firing, Kelly wishes her a “friendly departure”, adding that he hoped “you can go on without any difficulty in the future relative to your reputation”.

“John Kelly, you work for Donald Trump,” said the host. “I wouldn’t worry about other people’s reputation.”

Trevor Noah

Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah also discussed Omarosa’s allegations.

He began: “It is one of the great ironies of all time that the Trump presidency has given us more books than ever before, which is a crazy thing because this is a guy whose favorite thing to read is the Hooters T-shirt.”

Noah began by covering Omarosa’s claims that she heard tape of Trump using the N-word and that it “confirms” the president’s racism.

“Omarosa,” Noah replied. “How can you say that about the president three years after we all said that about the president?!

“Omarosa had to spend a year in the White House to learn that Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing,” the host added. “I can’t wait for her next book: Donald Trump, Something’s Wrong with His Hair.”

Omarosa’s got tapes! At this point there should be a Grammy given for Best Contemporary Presidential Spying Record. pic.twitter.com/bkB5lffBJT — The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) August 14, 2018

In other audio of Omarosa’s conversation with Kelly, he says she’s being fired for “serious integrity violations”.

“What’s weird about this is that Omarosa is presenting these tapes as evidence she was treated unfairly,” Noah said, referencing her claims that her conversation with Kelly constituted a threat. “But from what she released, John Kelly doesn’t sound that bad. If anything, these tapes may have landed Omarosa in hot water.”

Noah continued: “She took a recording device into the White House Situation Room. That’s the room where presidents hold the most classified meetings. Things that are too secret for the Oval Office. The Bin Laden raid was run from the Situation Room.”

Noah then played the discussion Omarosa recorded with Trump, in which he responds incredulously to the news of her firing, saying, “I didn’t know that. Goddamn it. I don’t love you leaving at all.”

“For a man who lies as much as Trump, you’d think he’d be better at it,” the host said.