The Daily Showdown
Trevor Noah whistles at the new Trump Russia emails, says Felix Sater may be Trump's 'broken tail light'
Congress and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are both investigating President Trump's ties to Russia in connection with suspected election meddling, and "the big question in all of this is: What was the connection between Donald Trump and the Russian government?" Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show. So far, Trump's answer has always been that there's no connection, no business, no contact with Russia. Well, that hasn't held up to scrutiny very well, Noah said. Emails turned over to Congress by Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, show that Trump secretly signed a letter of intent to build the tallest building in the world in Moscow, during the presidential campaign.
"How can one person lie so big?" Noah asked. "It's like if your friend said that they had never heard of Mumford and Sons, and then one day you see the album cover, and you're like, 'Wait a minute — you're Mumford!'" Anyway, "now it's confirmed: Yes, during the campaign, Donald Trump totally had connections to Russia," Noah said. "The remaining question is, were those connections strictly business, or were they getting out on the vote-y vote-y action?" While that isn't clear yet, the men Trump signed the Russia deal with "aren't exactly helping his case," he said, pointing specifically at Felix Sater, the apparent middle man.
Trump originally denied any connection with Sater, even though the Russian-born ex-con had gold-embossed Trump Organization business cards identifying him as Trump's senior adviser, but the real story "is what the shady guy was saying," Noah said, showing some of Sater's emails. "I love how obvious all the Trump people were in their collusion emails." How big a deal will this turn out to be? Nobody knows, but Mueller certainly has some big leads to pursue now. "This buddy-boy emails may not be the smoking gun for Trump, but what it could end up being is the broken tail light," Noah said, "the thing that gives law enforcement the excuse they need to look into Trump's trunk." Watch below. Peter Weber