We already knew that former President Donald trump "had a habit of tearing up the documents at the White House," Jimmy Kimmel said on Thursday's Kimmel Live. "Well, the papyrus has thickened, because according to a book written by the highly esteemed Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, the White House engineer — who's kind of the White House plumber, I guess — would frequently be called in to unclog the president's toilet, because he had a habit of flushing papers down it, for real."
Trump denied the clogged-toilet story from "Mar-a-Clogo," calling it "categorically untrue and simply made up" to sell books, Kimmel said. But added to all of Trump's other document mishandling, "how great would it be if this is what finally brings Trump down, toilet water? It's Toiletwatergate, is what it is."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Yes, "according to reports, Trump would rip up papers after he read them" and "he took boxes of material with him to Mar-a-Lago," but flushing them down the toilet is "the most Trump thing that he possibly could have done with some of these documents," Trevor Noah said on The Daily Show. The National Archives has asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump's habitual mishandling of official documents, he added, and "at this point I'm wondering if there are any laws that Trump hasn't broken. Like, if there was a Guinness Book of World Records for crime, he'd probably steal the book."
Still, "I know it's easy for us to all go, 'Trump was trying to obstruct justice!'" Noah said. But remember, there was a toilet paper shortage at the start of the pandemic, "and I don't know about you guys, but when there's no toilet paper, state documents start to look mighty tempting. It also does explain why Trump was always complaining about toilets," he added, playing some clips. "I mean, everyone assumed he was a man who clogged the White House toilets, but no one ever thought we'd have to ask the question: 'But with what?'"
-
6 lovely barn homesFeature Featuring a New Jersey homestead on 63 acres and California property with a silo watchtower
-
Film reviews: ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘Is This Thing On?’Feature A born grifter chases his table tennis dreams and a dad turns to stand-up to fight off heartbreak
-
Political cartoons for December 14Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a new White House flag, Venezuela negotiations, and more
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
