Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah are underwhelmed by Barr's color-coded censorship of the Mueller report
Democrats have opened nearly a dozen investigations of President Trump, but "at the top of the Democrats' list are three things they really want to see: Trump's tax returns, the full Mueller report, and Avengers: Endgame," Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show. "Because Marvel doesn't mess around, they're concentrating on the first two, starting with taxes." Democrats "have the law on their side" in demanding Trump's tax returns, he said, but the Trump administration cares "as much about about laws as gravity cares about your iPhone screens" — so, not at all.
The White House is saying Democrats will never see Trump's tax returns, and in case "you don't speak rich nerd," Noah said, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just explained the Trump administrations's game plan: "They're just going to keep reviewing this request until Trump isn't president anymore."
"Things are more promising when it comes to seeing the full Mueller report," though when Attorney General William Barr releases it next week, "the report is going to be heavily censored," Noah cautioned. "I don't know if people should get their hopes up for the full Mueller report, because based on Barr's letter, there's probably not going to be a chapter in there called 'Impeachable Stuff.'" Still, Roy Wood Jr. had a solution for people still holding out hope for really damning news.
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"Barr said he will deliver the Mueller report to Congress within a week, and it will have color-coded reductions," noted The Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon. "And this is nice, he's letting Don Jr. do all the coloring."
Barr said he will redact four categories of information, and "with all that stuff missing, it's going to read like an investigative Mad Libs," Stephen Colbert said at The Late Show. "And we have a preview of Barr's color-coding system: Let's see: Black means confidential, red means grand jury information, and yellow means the Moscow Ritz Carlton." 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.