Obama secretly summoned Jon Stewart to the White House twice to explain his 'side of the story'

Obama and Stewart
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

It's always good to have the comedians on your side — and it looks as if President Obama went out of the way to assure that he did. In recent years, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart made at least two secret visits to the White House to meet with Obama, both times at the president's specific request, Politico reports.

"The White House itself was quite interested in at least explaining its side of the story to Jon Stewart, up to and including the president," former Obama White House chief economic adviser Austan Goolsbee said. Obama summoned Stewart to his office in October 2011, during the debt ceiling crisis, and again in February 2014, before threatening Russia not to make any further moves on Ukraine. Obama has appeared on Stewart's show seven times.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.