John Oliver began Sunday's Last Week Tonight with the latest installment of his look at President Trump's "Stupid Watergate" mess — a scandal "with the potential gravity of Watergate, if the entire White House was on bath salts and Nixon was a raccoon with his head stuck in a jar of peanut butter." And it's not just that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was somehow on the same recent flight as Donald Trump Jr., he said. "There was a series of potentially damaging revelations this week, courtesy of the president's former lawyer, Michael Cohen."
"Historically, 'there are tapes' hasn't worked out well for presidents," Oliver said. "It's one of those phrases that is universally foreboding, like 'the virus is airborne' or 'Ronan Farrow is working on an article about you.'" The tape where Trump discusses burying his alleged affair with a Playboy model "could be a problem for multiple reasons," he said, but Cohen's "second bombshell" about Trump knowing beforehand of the meeting his son and campaign chiefs had with Kremlin-linked officials offering election collusion "is potentially huge," if not all that surprising. "Breaking news: The president actually knew about meeting that involved his son, his son-in-law, and his campaign manager discussing dirt about his greatest enemy that took place where he lived and worked in a building which has his f---ing name on it!"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
-
'The disconnect between actual health care and the insurance model is widening'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Cautious optimism surrounds plans for the world's first nuclear fusion power plantTalking Point Some in the industry feel that the plant will face many challenges
-
Explore new worlds this winter at these 6 enlightening museum exhibitionsThe Week Recommends Discover the estrados of Spain and the connection between art and chess in various African countries
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box officeSpeed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appealSpeed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproarSpeed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
