If Stephen Colbert were Trump, he'd be upset with Mick Mulvaney, too


In a long, televised Cabinet meeting Monday, President Trump tried to defend himself from criticism of his aborted decision to host next year's G7 summit at his own golf resort outside Miami, though "of course it wouldn't be a Trump meeting if it didn't go off on some rambling tangent about his rally crowd size," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. But "Trump's not the only one defending his right to blow off the Constitution." So is acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, iffily.
Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday that Trump still thinks he's in the "hospitality business," Colbert said. "But admitting that the president still thinks he's running a for-profit business isn't even Mulvaney's biggest gaffe of that interview." He backed up a bit to explain how, in Trump's eyes, Mulvaney messed up. "Throughout this impeachment inquiry, the company line from the administration has been there was no 'quid pro quo' between Trump and Ukraine," Colbert said. "First of all, you don't need 'quid pro quo,' it's super illegal anyway. And second, yeah, 'quid pro quo,' and on Thursday, Mulvaney admitted it."
"Admitting the thing that Trump is being impeached for turned out to be slightly problematic," so on Fox News Sunday, Mulvaney "unveiled his bulletproof defense: He never actually said 'quid pro quo,'" Colbert said. "He does realize you don't have to say the crime to be guilty of the crime, right? To be convicted of homicide, you don't have to stab somebody while saying, 'Murder, murder, murder, murder.'"
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Yeah, Trump probably reversed course on the G7 because "it is a bad idea to commit an impeachable offense when you're already being impeached," Seth Meyers said on Late Night. "That would be like stabbing the bailiff at your murder trial."
Luckily, The Late Show had a suggestion for the G7's venue, now that Trump's golf resort has proved too toxic. 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.
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