Stephen Colbert tries to decipher Robert Mueller's parting words, William Barr's fatalistic flunkyism

Stephen Colbert on Mueller&#039;s last words

(Image credit: Screenshow/YouTube/The Late Show)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller had one last thing to say about his investigation last week, and Stephen Colbert caught up on Monday's Late Show, first fantasizing about what Mueller could have said, in an odd mafia-Italian accent. In reality, Mueller left things a bit muddled. "On the question of obstruction, he was very clear about how Trump didn't not do the thing he said he didn't do," Colbert said, more or less accurately.

It would have been nice if Mueller had said something, anything, that didn't sound like a riddle, but it's over, Mueller's gone, and now the Justice Department is "completely in the hands" of Attorney General William Barr, Colbert said. "Barr has thrown the job of attorney general out the window to be Trump's personal defender, and in an interview last week, he had a pretty fatalistic view of how things are going." He showed Barr touting that "everyone dies" — "Is he always that cheerful?" — then imagined him at the proverbial office water cooler. Watch below. 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.