Stephen Colbert asks John Dickerson what happens if Trump rebuffs Mueller, and it sounds dicey

John DIckerson and Stephen Colbert talk constitutional crises

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

John Dickerson hosted his last edition of Face the Nation on Sunday so he can devote himself full time to CBS This Morning. "Surely you expected to be at Face the Nation for longer than two years — did Donald Trump break you?" Stephen Colbert asked Dickerson on Tuesday's Late Show. "Did he make you flee" from Washington to New York? "No," Dickerson said, laughing. "Because I still get to cover that story." "From a safe distance," Colbert quipped back, joking about ponchos.

"You are like a national repository of norms and standards," with "a great memory for the history of Washington," Colbert said. "What do you think are the norms and standards that Donald Trump has changed the most in the first year?" Dickerson pointed to the documented mountain of "misstatements and untruths" Trump has told as president. "Now, some of our best presidents have been dishonest," he said, citing FDR, though Trump "in his public comments has been different than any president we've ever seen before."

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"I know you're not a lawyer, but can the president say no?" Colbert asked. "Can Mueller compel the president to come in?" "I don't think he can compel him," Dickerson said. "Under what grounds would the president say 'I don't want to?'" Colbert asked. "I'm the president," Dickerson replied. "But then where are we?" Colbert asked. "I'll come back on that show," Dickerson said. "I mean, people would in that instance talk about a constitutional crisis," and "there would be a pain and a cost" for Trump if he did that. Watch below. Peter Weber

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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.