Stephen Colbert grills Beto O'Rourke on questions both tough and silly, gets surprisingly forthright answers

Stephen Colbert began his interview with Beto O'Rourke on Wednesday's Late Show by pointedly asking why he decided to run for president after narrowly losing to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last year, and why he isn't challenging Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) instead of President Trump next year. He had answers for both — he suggested MJ Hegar could beat Cornyn — and Colbert's questions didn't get much softer.

Colbert asked if Democrats successfully impeach Trump, "aren't you robbing yourself of the joy of running against President Trump?" O'Rourke laughed. "Impeachment is not about getting rid of the president," he said. "It's about finding the facts, getting to the truth, ensuring that there's accountability and justice for what happened to this democracy in 2016." Trump asked Russian to help him win, fired the principal official investigating him, and "tweeted in broad daylight to his attorney general to stop the investigation," he said. Obstruction of justice is a serious crime, "and if we set the precedent that some people are above the law or beyond the reach of the law by not impeaching this president, not getting to the facts or the truth, I think that begins the end of this democracy."

Colbert, pointing to Trump's near-monarchical use of executive authority and the broader accrual of presidential powers, asked O'Rourke if he were elected president, "what power would you surrender?" O'Rourke went for the big one: "I will make sure that we not only end the wars that we are in, but before we send another service member in harm's way, that we do this lawfully, as prescribed in the Constitution, Article I, through the people's representatives in Congress."

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O'Rourke has qualified for the first Democratic debates, Colbert said. "You've debated before — Ted Cruz, obviously — but now you're going to be on stage with people that the audience might enjoy. I want to help you prep." Unlike the first round, these were not serious questions, but O'Rourke answered them all boldly — until the last one. Peter Weber