Stephen Colbert was too busy with his Daily Show reunion on Tuesday to do justice to Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, although he did briefly bring it up in his monologue, to confused cheers from his audience. On Wednesday, however, the Late Show host devoted more than 10 minutes to the firing, the absurd justifications for it, and the aftermath, including the fact that Comey only learned he was fired when the news broke on TV. “Well that’s certainly on brand,” said Colbert. “Because firing people on TV is Trump’s qualification for being president.” At first, Comey reportedly even believed that it was just a prank. “Comey, you didn’t just get pranked,” warned Colbert. “You got Trump’d.”
But the most baffling part of this whole saga might just be the White House’s claim that Comey’s firing stemmed from his decision to reopen the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails in October, a move that Trump said at the time was worthy of respect and continued to praise even after his inauguration. (Remember Trump’s famous campaign rally chants of “Treat her fairly”? Yeah, neither do we.) In fact, it seems obvious to Colbert that the real cause of the firing is right there in Trump’s termination letter to Comey:
While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.
“Did you catch that?” asked Colbert. “He’s saying This is not about the Russia investigation in a letter firing Comey for the Russia investigation. That is like carving your alibi on the murder weapon.”
As with any Trumpian catastrophe, there was an attempt at damage control afterward, which included Fox News reporting on Comey’s “resignation,” Sean Spicer avoiding questions altogether by hiding in the bushes, and a rare sighting of Kellyanne Conway on CNN, whose spin inspired an epic Anderson Cooper eye-roll—one that The Late Show sends on an equally epic journey.
