Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon are bemused that Trump has adopted the 'collusion is not a crime' mantra


Stephen Colbert kicked off Tuesday's Late Show with the trial of Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman. "I feel like it's Christmas morning, because all year long, Robert Mueller and his team of legal elves have been busy in their workshop, making all the indictments for all the bad little boys and girls — and the magical day we've all been waiting for is finally here." Colbert ran through the highlights of the first day of Manafort's trial, noting he has reason to be worried. But "one person who's apparently not worried about Robert Mueller's investigation is Donald Trump," he said.
For more than a year, Trump's "catchphrase has been 'no collusion,'" Colbert said. "It's like his 'aloha' — it means both 'hello' and 'I'm guilty.'" But Trump and his team "have recently rebranded, and are using a new phrase that Trump tweeted out this morning: 'Collusion is not a crime,'" he added. "Trump's completely flipped the script on this collusion thing. What's next? He's gonna go from 'This is a witch hunt!' to 'Okay, but I'm good witch, like Glinda, the hot one from The Wizard of Oz.'"
On The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon tackled the collusion question in character as Trump, anchoring the Trump News Network. "This morning I tweeted, 'Collusion is not a crime,' and it worked," he said. "Apparently, if you say something's not a crime, then it's not a crime." Fallon's Trump listed some examples, explained why Rudy Giuliani is doing a great job, and moved on to other news. Things got a little weird with the "Bigfoot erotica" story out of Virginia, and you can watch that and the rest of the Fake Newscast below. Peter Weber
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play