Late-night hosts certainly got a kick out of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony about the Russia investigation on Tuesday, including the former senator’s promise to defend his honor and his bizarre exchange with Angus King in which seemed to both invoke and not invoke executive privilege to avoid answering questions. On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah noted that Sessions’ slick line about recusing himself could be applied to multiple situations: “I recuse myself from the Russia investigation, but I will not recuse myself from these nachos,” said Noah. “Wait, five dollars for for guacamole? I recuse myself!”
Seth Meyers also had a lot of fun with Sessions’ outraged repudiation of the “scurrilous allegations” and “innuendo” that seemed to be in the air. “That’s right, Sessions is defending his honor from scurrilous innuendo,” he said. “And there’s nothing more Southern than scurrilous innuendo.” (His impression of an innuendo-spouting Southerner, at the 10-minute mark, is worth watching.)
Guest Kate McKinnon, who plays Sessions on Saturday Night Live, evidently couldn’t resist bringing back her impression during her visit to Late Night, getting into character to offer her take on the hearing: “As for Jim Comey, he asked me to keep Trump out of his way, right? And they’re sayin’ I didn’t respond, but the truth is, I didn’t hear him. Now, this guy’s about 6-foot-8, and I had heard a sound above my head—I thought it was a cicada.”
