Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel recap the highlights and low points of Barr's Senate grilling


Attorney General William Barr faced some tough questions in Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, many of them about his misleading four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report. "He released his opening statement ahead of time, and guess how long it was?" Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. "Four pages, evidently, is the perfect length to say nothing. 'Okay, class, I want you to read Moby Dick tonight, then do a four-page summary of what you wish the book was about."
After Barr's opening remarks, "the senators began the Q&A — they asked the Qs, and what he lacked in A he made up in hole," Colbert joked. "Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono took her whacks at this piñata of perjury," he said, but "the true star of the Barr-bashing" was Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who stumped him with the word "suggest."
Barr put in quite an appearance, Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. "It's rare you get to see a fat man tap-dance for five hours straight."
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.
"Republicans in the Senate were very defensive, they did everything they could to change the subject from obstruction," Kimmel recapped. "Democrats were mad, they believe this is a coverup of a coverup of the coverup, and that the attorney general is more interested in obeying his boss than obeying the law. Multiple Democrats called for Barr to resign today; multiple Republicans feigned outrage when they did it. ... The Republicans say the Mueller report isn't what the Democrats hoped it would be so now they want to do it all over again. The Democrats say the report is exactly what we thought it would be so why is the attorney general saying it wasn't? And that seems to be Robert Mueller's position, too."
Kimmel had some fun with Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) F-bomb and noted that "Trump spent hours today watching TV, tweeting, and retweeting — that's not a president, that's a teenager on summer vacation" — and he got "trolled pretty good" with one retweet. Watch below. Peter Weber
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.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
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
-
A long weekend in Zürich
The Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle