Stephen Colbert has some ideas for Michael Cohen about flipping on Trump

Stephen Colbert thinks Michael Cohen is about to sing

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

last updated 14 June 2018

President Trump may think he's solved the North Korean nuclear crisis, "but now he's got to deal with an even greater threat: Robert Mueller," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. Specifically, Trump's lawyer and longtime fixer Michael Cohen has reportedly lost his legal team and is about to flip. "Yes, Michael Cohen is going to sing like a canary — which is ironic, because it's Trump that actually looks like one," Colbert said. He suggested Cohen hire Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti: "I hear that the last lawyer to go up against him is about to get arrested."

This is bad news for Trump, not just Cohen. "One former White House official said, even before the news that Cohen was cooperating broke, that 'Trump should be super worried about Michael Cohen. ... If anyone can blow up Trump, it's him,'" Colbert said. "Okay, well, that gives Cohen leverage because the last guy who threatened to blow up Trump got his own summit." Cohen apparently hasn't flipped yet, but Trump has reportedly been fuming about Cohen in private, blaming him for the Daniels fiasco. The Late Show had a brief video waving "goodbye to their beautiful friend-thing."

Colbert shot down Trump's claim to have already denuclearized North Korea and noted the disconnect between Trump's version and North Korea's of what they agreed to orally, because, Trump says, he didn't have time to get it in writing. "This raises a troubling question," Colbert said. "If we're negotiating with dictators, what happens to America's status as an international bulwark against the rise of totalitarian — forget it! Can we talk about that raccoon now?!?" 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.