Stephen Colbert isn't buying Trump's new Nixonian argument that presidents can't obstruct justice

Stephen Colbert thinks Trump can obstruct justice
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

Stephen Colbert celebrated an early Christmas on Monday's Late Show, thanks to Special Counsel Robert Muller's gift last Friday of a plea deal for President Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. "He is singing like a canary — well, actually more like an angry shaved eagle," Colbert said. "Yes, Flynn is turning on his old friends. It's like the old saying goes, 'Snitches get significant time off their federal prison sentence.'" The Trump official who should probably be the most worried is Jared Kushner, who reportedly ordered Flynn to call Russian officials.

Worse for Trump, Flynn might have been wearing a wire. And Trump compounded his troubles by tweeting what appears to be an admission of obstruction of justice. Nobody really believes the story that Trump lawyer John Dowd "wrote a tweet in the voice of his client, without the client's permission or knowledge, and said tweet indicts the client for obstruction of justice," Colbert said. Dowd's counterargument is that Trump can't technically commit obstruction of justice. "Or, as Nixon famously said: 'When the president does it, it's not illegal. ... Also, if you're using the same defense as me, you're totally screwed because I was a crook.'"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.