Late-night comics also discussed Rod Rosenstein’s hearing before House Republicans and the supreme court vacancy

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Late-night hosts on Thursday discussed the supreme court seat soon to be vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy and ongoing tensions between congressional Republicans and the Department of Justice over the Robert Mueller investigation.

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Stephen Colbert

“We’re going on vacation next week so we won’t be able to talk about what’s going on with the country,” began Stephen Colbert. “Hopefully, when we get back, there still will be one.”

Robert Mueller, the host continued, could release his report on the Donald Trump campaign’s engagement with Russian nationals at any time. “And it’s got the president spooked,” he said.

“So today he sent his congressional goon squad to attack the justice department,” Colbert said, noting that the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who is in charge of the special counsel investigation, fielded tense questions from Republican lawmakers.

In one exchange, Congressman Jim Jordan accused Rosenstein of threatening to subpoena the phone calls of members of the House intelligence committee. “There’s no way to subpoena phone calls,” Rosenstein replied.

“This was after they’d already unleashed South Carolina Republican and backwoods Anderson Cooper Trey Gowdy to demand an end to the investigation,” said Colbert, showing footage of Gowdy demanding the DoJ “finish it the hell up”.



“Congressman Gowdy, I completely agree,” said the host. “Please give us what you’ve got on Trump quick. We’ve got maybe two weeks before Trump appoints supreme court justice My Pillow guy.



“Obviously, with the looming shadow of the Mueller investigation, Trump has to completely distance himself from anything Russian,” Colbert said. “So today the White House announced he’ll be meeting with Vladimir Putin on July 16.



“It makes sense,” the host quipped. “It is time for Trump’s annual employee review.”



Seth Meyers

Meanwhile, NBC’s Seth Meyers discussed Kennedy’s retirement from the supreme court, a decision that gives Trump the power to reshape the bench for decades to come.



“So, Donald the ‘Little Rocket Man’ Trump will now have the chance to nominate a second supreme court justice who will shape the future of everything from gay rights to voting rights to Roe v Wade,” Meyers explained. “Trump, of course, is elated he gets to pick a second supreme court justice because it helps cement his legacy.

“Now, if you remember, Republicans stole a supreme court seat from President Obama by staging an unprecedented blockade of Obama’s choice to fill the seat, Merrick Garland,” explained Meyers. “They claimed back then that the American people should get to weigh in during the presidential election which was, at the time, nine months away.”



Meyers went on to show video clips of senators Ted Cruz, Orrin Hatch and Mitch McConnell, among others, saying “the people” ought to decide in that year’s presidential election whether or not Obama should appoint a justice.

“There you go, McConnell said: ‘Let the people decide,’” Meyers said. “So now that we’re four months away from an election I’m sure McConnell, a man of his word, will follow the rule he made up and hold off the vote until after the election.

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“I’m just kidding,” Meyers said. “McConnell is totally full of shit.”



The host then showed the Senate majority leader calling for Trump’s nominee to “be considered fairly”.

“Considered fairly? You refused to even meet with Merrick Garland,” Meyers shot back. “Here’s the lesson: the GOP isn’t operating on arguments or principles. They don’t care about being called hypocrites or liars. Hypocrisy isn’t their weakness. It’s their platform.”