America's late-night comedians dissect Rudy Giuliani's claim that colluding with Russia isn't a crime

Last week, President Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen revealed that Trump knew about and approved a meeting his son Donald Trump Jr. and campaign officials had with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton. "Wow, that is shocking information — Donald Trump had an actual in-person conversation with one of his sons," Trevor Noah joked on Monday's Daily Show. "Also, this Russia thing is pretty big, I guess. Because if they can prove that Trump knew that his campaign was meeting with the Russians, it would go a long way toward proving collusion."

Trump needed some damage control on the collusion front, so "Rudy Giuliani was once again unleashed upon the world," Noah said. "But the thing about Rudy is, just when you think he's backed into a corner, he finds an even tighter corner."

So "Giuliani moved the goal posts even further, arguing that even if collusion did happen, it's not a crime," Seth Meyers said on Late Night. "Seriously, this argument's insane. Just because Trump didn't do the hacking doesn't mean he's not complicit in the crime. And besides, Trump has already been very clear about who he thinks did the hacking ... It was a guy in New Jersey who's fat." So ...

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

"Wow, they are really moving the goal posts on this," Stephen Colbert agreed on Monday's Late Show. "What's next? 'Okay, collusion's a crime, but it's just a little crime.' Then it will be: 'Since when are crimes illegal?'"

See more

"They've already come up with the plot for the next Mission: Impossible — getting Rudy Giuliani to stop talking," Jimmy Fallon joked on The Tonight Show. After "he said that 'collusion isn't illegal,' even Trump was, like, 'Why can't this guy think before he speaks?'" Watch below. Peter Weber

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.