Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers, and Jordan Klepper try to figure why Rudy Giuliani spilled Trump's Stormy Daniels beans

Late night comedians gawk at Rudy Giuliani

(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Daily Show, Late Night, The Opposition)

last updated 4 May 2018

Until President Trump asked Rudy Giuliani to join his legal team, he and his allies had their story straight about Michael Cohen's $130,000 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels: Trump knew nothing. Then, "last night, Giuliani went on TV and flipped the Stormy Daniels payment story upside-down," Trevor Noah said on Thursday's Daily Show. "Rudy! What are you doing?" he asked. "Why would Giuliani and Trump change their story? There's no logical explanation."

One theory is that after the FBI's Cohen raid, the truth will come out, so better to reveal the information yourself. "Wow, imagine a PR crisis so bad that your best move is to admit you paid hush money to a porn star," Noah said. Salacious details aside, Trump and Cohen "might have broken the law," he added, and Giuliani's continuing confessions are just making everything worse.

"Rudy, what is wrong with you?" Seth Meyers asked on Late Night. "You're the president's lawyer and you just told everyone he lied on TV — on Sean Hannity's show. You cracked under no pressure. If Rudy Giuliani had been O.J.'s lawyer, he would have said, 'Hey, even if your gloves don't fit, you can still stab somebody.'" But he had his own theory about what's going on: "Every time someone in Trump's orbit gets a close-up look at the [Robert] Mueller investigation, they freak out ... and the same thing is happening with Giuliani."

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No, "Giuliani is embarking on a bold new strategy: Don't deny the thing, don't excuse the thing, just say the thing," Jordan Klepper said on The Opposition. "Finally! We're done dancing around these snowflakes worried about laws and/or consequences! Who cares about the P.C. police — or the regular police? Rudy is the just-say-the-thing expert. ... And before you can say, 'Won't Donald Trump get in trouble for just saying the thing?' ask yourself: When has that ever happened before?" He broke out his gaslight. 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.