Stephen Colbert grills John Lithgow's manic, wine-guzzling Rudy Giuliani about his pile of Ukraine woes

Stephen Colbert and John Lithgow roast Rudy Giuliani

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

last updated 23 October 2019

The more we learn about President Trump's apparent shakedown of Ukraine, the worse thinks look for Trump's personal legal adviser Rudy Giuliani, Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show. "Since the original whistleblower report, Rudy has been on TV doing damage control, minus the control."

Trump's "three amigos" in the Ukraine fiasco — U.S. EU ambassador Gordon Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and U.S. Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker — have all fingered Giuliani as a key player in the pressure campaign to get Ukraine to pursue debunked conspiracy theories and politically motivated investigations of Democrats, Colbert noted, and now Giuliani is apparently the subject of a counterintelligence investigation that has already snared two of his Ukraine-linked business associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

"Of course, there's no proof connecting these guys to Giuliani, unless you count the photos of them smoking cigars together, this video of them drinking together in the Trump hotel, and the fact that Giuliani was paid $500,000 by their company, which is called — and this is real — Fraud Guarantee," Colbert said. "Yes, Fraud Guarantee. He even did a little work for their retail outfit, Krime Mart. So did Rudolph Giuliani and his Fraud buddies lead the president into impeachment by pushing debunked conspiracy theories?" For answers, he turned to Giuliani, as portrayed in manic, wine-guzzling fashion by John Lithgow.

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"Democrats say the impeachment might take longer than expected because each witness keeps providing even more leads," Jimmy Fallon said at The Tonight Show. "So basically, Trump's legal strategy is commit so many crimes they can never finish the investigation. 'They're almost done? Tell Don Jr. to rob a bank!' And today the top official from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine testified, and one congressman called it his 'most disturbing day in Congress' — and that's counting the day Mitch McConnell walked out of the sauna without a towel." 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.